CHURCH  HISTORY  HANDBOOKS 


BOOK  11 

THE  PERIOD 
OF  THE  REFORMATION 

HENRY  C  VEDDER 


'*     JUL  29  1909 


A 


^GICAL  St\.\> 


BR  305 

.V43  1909 

Vedder, 

Henry 

C. 

1853- 

-1935. 

The  period  of 

the 

reformation 



CHURCH  HISTORY  HANDBOOKS 
Book  II 

The  Period  of  the 
Reformation 


Bi, 


^'i  Or  POl^^ 


Henry  CVeddeL     jul  29  1909 


Professor  of  Church  History  in  Crc(zer 


Theological  Seminary 


y-z. 


■iemi  stM 


IW^ 


The  Griffith  6c  Rowland  Press 

Philadelphia 
Chicago 


Boston 
New  York 


St.  Louis 


Atlanta 
Dallas 


CHURCH   HISTORY   HANDBOOKS 

Book  II 

The  Period  of  the 
Reformation 


Copyright  1909  by 
A.  J.  ROWLAND,  Secretary 

Published  March,  1909 


FOREWORD 

It  is  an  age  of  condensation.  The  most  important 
messages,  to  command  attention,  must  compact 
themselves  into  narrow  space.  In  obedience  to  this 
demand  these  handbooks  are  sent  forth.  For  our 
study  classes  and  training  schools,  for  rapid  con- 
sultation in  the  busy  pastor's  study,  and  for  col- 
lateral work  among  our  Bible  students  they  will  be 
found  invaluable.  The  attempt  has  been  made  to 
include  all  essential  historic  facts,  while  the  ex- 
tensive bibliography  on  the  various  themes  will  sup- 
plement any  needful  omission. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.  Preparations  for  a  Reformation 9 

11.  The  Renaissance 22 

III.  The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation 33 

IV.  Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  . .  50 
V.  The  Zwinglian  Reformation 66 

VI.  The  Calvinistic  Reformation ']^ 

VII.  The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism 93 

VIII.  The  English  Reformation 105 

IX.  The  Radical  Reformation 125 

X.  The  Counter-Reformation 142 


CHAPTER  I 

PREPARATIONS    FOR    A    REFORMATION 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  consider  not  only  the 
formal  protests  against  the  increasing  corruptions 
of  doctrine  and  life  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
that  preceded  the  Reformation,  but  certain  favoring 
conditions  that  tended  to  make  the  protest  of  the 
sixteenth  century  successful  where  others  had  failed. 

I.  Arnold  of  Brescia 

One  of  the  earliest  of  these  unsuccessful  protests 
was  made  by  a  priest  of  Brescia,  one  of  the  free 
Italian  cities.  We  know  little  of  Arnold  before  he 
began  his  work,  except  that  he  had  been  a  pupil  of 
Abelard  at  Paris.  About  the  year  1130  his  elo- 
quence made  a  great  stir  in  his  native  city.  He 
denounced  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  the  vices 
of  the  clergy,  and  urged  men  to  live  after  the  pre- 
cepts of  Christ.  The  clergy,  he  said,  should  re- 
nounce their  worldly  possessions,  for  the  root  of 
the  evils  in  the  Church  was  its  connection  with  the 
State.  He  was  banished  and  forbidden  to  preach. 
He  joined  his  former  teacher,  and  was  condemned 
with  Abelard  at  the  Council  of  Sens,  in  1141.  He 
appeared  in  Rome  in  1145,  ^t  a  time  of  revolution, 
and  became  the  leader  in  an  attem.pt  to  restore  the 

9 


10  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

old  Roman  republic,  in  which  Church  and  State 
should  be  separate.  By  the  intervention  of  Em- 
peror Frederick  II,  Rome  was  retaken  and  the  pope 
was  restored,  and  Arnold  was  put  to  death,  his 
body  being  burned  and  his  ashes  cast  into  the  Tiber. 
Italy  was  not  ripe  for  such  a  civil  and  religious  revo- 
lution as  he  advocated,  but  the  teachings  of  Arnold 
were  never  forgotten.  His  followers,  known  as 
Arnoldists,  remained  in  Italy  for  some  time. 

2.  The  Petrobrusians 

At  about  the  same  time  a  heretical  sect,  called 
Petrobrusians,  became  very  numerous  in  Southern 
France.  They  were  named  from  Peter  of  Bruis, 
their  founder,  who  preached  the  gospel  with  great 
success  for  twenty  years  in  that  region,  and  was 
put  to  death  in  1126.  From  Roman  Catholic  writers 
we  learn  that  the  Petrobrusians  taught  a  remarkably 
evangelical  doctrine.  They  insisted  on  the  supreme 
authority  of  Scripture,  and  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  authority  of  Fathers  and  councils.  They  held 
that  the  baptism  of  infants  is  a  meaningless  form, 
and  that  only  believers  should  receive  baptism. 
They  said  that  God  could  be  worshiped  as  well  in 
wood  and  field,  or  in  private  houses,  as  in  churches  ; 
that  the  cross  ought  not  to  be  adored;  that  bread 
and  wine  are  not  changed  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ  in  the  Lord's  Supper ;  that  prayers,  alms, 
and  other  good  works  for  the  dead  do  not  profit 
them  at  all.    For  these  and  other  like  "  errors,"  the 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  ii 

Church     persecuted     these     heretics     with     great 
severity. 

3.  The  Henricians 

A  successor  of  Peter  of  Bruis  was  Henry  of 
Lausanne,  a  former  monk  of  Clugny,  who  preached 
many  years  in  the  same  region.  His  eloquence  was 
celebrated,  and  we  learn  from  Bernard  that  he  won 
a  great  following.  He  was  captured  about  1148, 
and  condemned  by  the  Synod  of  Rheims  to  perpetual 
imprisonment,  and  is  supposed  to  have  died  about 
two  years  afterward.  The  persecutions  of  the 
Petrobrusians  and  Henricians  resulted  in  their 
gradual  suppression,  and  the  remnants  of  them  were 
absorbed  into  other  sects. 

4.  The  Waldenses 

About  1 1 50  a  rich  merchant  of  Lyons,  Peter 
Waldo,  was  converted.  Knowing  little  Latin,  he 
hired  two  priests  to  translate  the  Gospels  and  some 
other  portions  of  Scripture  into  his  vernacular,  and 
committed  large  portions  of  them  to  memory.  An- 
other priest  to  whom  he  applied  for  religious  in- 
struction told  him  that  the  perfect  life  was  obedi- 
ence to  Girist's  words,  "  Sell  all  that  thou  hast  and 
give  to  the  poor,  and  come,  follow  me."  He  obeyed 
literally,  and  began  telling  the  story  of  his  conver- 
sion and  reciting  passages  of  the  Gospels  to  all  who 
would  listen.  Soon  he  made  many  converts,  some 
of  whom  became  preachers  like  himself.    The  priests 


12  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

became  alarmed,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons  for- 
bade Waldo  to  teach.  He  journeyed  to  Rome  and 
made  an  appeal  to  Pope  Alexander  III  and  the 
third  Lateran  Council,  who  bade  him  obey  his 
archbishop.  But  he  and  his  followers  could  not  re- 
main silent;  they  must  obey  God  rather  than  man; 
and  so  they  were  excommunicated  for  contumacy, 
and  afterward  were  regarded  as  heretics,  mainly 
because  of  their  strict  adherence  to  the  Scriptures. 
They  grew  rapidly  and  were  the  most  dangerous 
heretical  body  before  the  Reformation.  They  not 
only  spread  through  Southern  France,  but  through 
Switzerland  and  Germany,  and  became  numerous  in 
Northern  Italy.  Their  doctrines  were  almost  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  Petrobrusians :  they  asserted 
the  supremacy  of  the  Scriptures,  denied  the  validity 
of  infant  baptism,  practised  the  baptism  of  believers 
only,  rejected  the  Roman  doctrines  of  transub- 
stantiation,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  penance,  purga- 
tory, and  auricular  confession.  Like  the  modern 
Friends,  they  said  that  no  Christian  should  take  an 
oath  or  bear  arms,  but  should  suffer  violence  rather 
than  do  it.  The  Italian  Waldenses,  who  may  have 
had  a  separate  origin,  differed  in  some  particulars 
from  the  French.  Though  bitterly  persecuted,  the 
Waldenses  survived  almost  or  quite  to  the  eve  of 
the  Reformation.  It  was  in  consequence  of  their 
rapid  growth  and  the  effect  of  their  versions  of 
the  Scriptures,  that  the  Church  of  Rome  condemned 
translations  into  the  various  languages  of  Europe, 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  13 

and  forbade  the  reading  of  the  Bible  save  in  the 
Vulgate,  and  even  that  to  all  save  priests. 

5.  The  Manichaean  Sects 

There  were  also  in  Southern  France  and  elsewhere 
during  the  twelfth  century  sects  often  confounded 
with  these  evangelical  parties  already  mentioned, 
which  were  nevertheless  very  different  from  them. 
In  the  East  they  were  known  as  Bogomils,  and 
were  numerous  in  Bulgaria.  In  France  they  were 
commonly  known  as  Albigenses,  sometimes  as 
Cathari.  Though  nominally  Christians,  their  dis- 
tinctive doctrines  and  practices  were  derived  from 
Mani,  and  were  really  heathen.  Catholics  were  not 
careful  to  distinguish  them  from  the  evangelical 
sects,  but  persecuted  all  indiscriminately  as  heretics. 
A  crusade  was  begun  against  the  Albigenses  in  121 5, 
and  they  were  exterminated  mercilessly.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  Inquisition  was  largely  due  to  the 
desire  to  complete  this  work. 

6.  Wiclif  and  the  Lollards 

England  was  the  center  of  the  most  serious  pro- 
test against  the  false  papal  system  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  John  Wiclif,  a  professor  of  the- 
ology at  Oxford  University,  asserted  the  supremacy 
of  Scripture  over  popes,  Fathers,  and  councils ;  and 
rejected  the  teaching  of  the  Church  regarding  its 
own  nature,  denying  that  salvation  depended  on 
membership  in  the  Church  or  could  be  secured  by 


14  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

sacraments.  He  attacked  with  especial  vehemence 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  But  his  greatest 
achievement  was  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures, 
the  first  version  of  the  Bible  in  English.  He  com- 
pleted the  New  Testament,  and  other  scholars  as- 
sociated with  him  translated  the  Old  Testament. 
Though  it  was  not  printed  until  1845,  this  version 
was  widely  circulated  in  manuscript,  and  was  taught 
by  word  of  mouth  from  generation  to  generation. 
The  knowledge  of  the  Bible  thus  given  to  English- 
men did  much  to  prepare  them  for  the  Reformation. 
Like  Waldo,  Wiclif  sent  out  preachers  of  the  gospel, 
and  the  converts  thus  made  became  known  as  Lol- 
lards. The  first  statute  in  England  for  the  burn- 
ing of  heretics  was  passed  by  Parliament  in  140 1, 
in  consequence  of  the  spread  of  this  heresy.  The 
effect  of  Wiclif's  life  and  teaching  was  profound 
and  lasting,  and  he  well  deserves  the  name  that  has 
been  given  him,  "  The  Morning  Star  of  the  Refor- 
mation." 

7.  John  Hus  and  His  Followers 

The  teachings  of  Wiclif  were  carried  to  Bohemia 
by  students  of  that  country,  who  attended  his  lec- 
tures at  Oxford,  and  found  an  advocate  in  John 
Hus,  the  most  popular  preacher  of  Prag  and  a  pro- 
fessor in  its  university.  From  about  1400  he  gained 
a  large  following  among  his  countrymen.  His  idea 
was  that  a  reformation  of  the  Church  from  within 
was  possible,   and  he  had  no  idea  of  leading  a 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  15 

schism.  He  was  summoned  to  attend  the  Council 
of  Constance  and  answer  for  his  teachings,  and  was 
given  a  safe-conduct  by  Emperor  Sigismund.  He 
was  thrown  into  prison  almost  on  his  arrival, 
charged  with  heresy,  and  condemned  to  be  burned  at 
the  stake,  which  sentence  was  executed  July  6,  141 5. 
The  people  of  Bohemia,  outraged  by  this  treacher- 
ous punishment  of  their  national  hero,  broke  into 
open  rebellion  and  maintained  a  contest  for  a  gen- 
eration against  empire  and  Church,  in  which  they 
were  uniformly  successful,  until  their  own  divisions 
led  to  their  overthrow.  By  a  compact  made  at  the 
Council  of  Basel  (1431)  the  chief  demands  of  the 
Bohemian  people  were  granted,  including  the  re- 
ceiving of  the  communion  in  both  kinds.  The 
organization  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  later  known 
as  the  Moravians,  was  one  of  the  permanent  results 
of  the  labors  of  Hus. 

8.  Savonarola 

The  labors  of  this  Florentine  preacher  undoubt- 
edly prepared  the  way  for  Luther,  but  he  made  no 
formal  protest  against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
rather  professing  loyalty  to  that  Church  to  the  end. 
Born  in  Ferrara  in  1452,  educated  for  the  profes- 
sion of  medicine,  he  became  a  Dominican  monk,  and 
was  the  most  eloquent  preacher  of  his  generation. 
He  went  to  Florence  in  1490,  and  was  made  prior  of 
St.  Marks.  The  city  was  ripe  for  a  civil  revolution 
and  social  reform,  and  Savonarola  became  the  leader 


i6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

of  the  movement.  He  had  deeply  studied  the  pro- 
phetic books  of  Scripture,  and  these  he  expounded 
in  his  sermons,  and  men  beHeved  that  he  also  was 
a  prophet.  He  seems  to  have  believed  in  his  own 
prophetic  calling,  and  confidently  made  strange 
predictions,  some  of  which  were  strikingly  fulfilled. 
Through  his  part  in  Italian  politics,  rather  than 
through  any  doctrine  that  he  preached,  he  became 
embroiled  with  Pope  Alexander  VI,  the  worst  of  all 
the  popes  of  this  period.  He  was  excommunicated, 
yet  continued  to  preach  with  little  diminution  of 
his  power  in  Florence.  His  downfall  was  brought 
about  by  the  popular  fickleness,  aided  by  the  plots 
of  the  rival  order  of  Franciscans.  He  was  arrested ; 
but  at  his  trial  even  torture  failed  to  evoke  from 
him  evidence  justifying  his  death,  yet  he  was  exe- 
cuted on  a  double  charge  of  heresy  and  treason, 
May  23,  1498.  Savonarola  was  not  a  Protestant, 
as  Wiclif  and  Hus  were,  but  his  teachings  were 
mainly  evangelical.  In  spirit  he  belongs  with  the 
reformers. 

9.  The  Mystics 

Many  individuals  and  certain  organizations 
taught  a  purer  form  of  religion  than  was  general  in 
the  Roman  Church  of  the  medieval  period.  These 
mystics,  though  they  disagreed  in  many  points, 
agreed  in  maintaining  the  possibility  of  immediate 
knowledge  of  God  and  the  inner  life  of  the  soul 
with  him.    Of  these,  John  Tauler  (1290-1361),  an 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  ly 

eminent  preacher,  and  Thomas  a  Kempis,  author  of 
"  The  Imitation  of  Christ,"  did  most  through  their 
writings  to  prepare  the  way  for  reform.  The 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  to  whom  Thomas  be- 
longed, though  not  recognized  as  an  order  by  the 
Church,  nevertheless  had  a  number  of  communities 
after  the  monastic  plan  and  exerted  a  wide  influ- 
ence. The  unknown  author  of  the  "  German  The- 
ology/' which  was  so  extravagantly  praised  by 
Luther,  may  also  be  named  as  one  who  considerably 
influenced  the  Reformation,  by  suggesting  to  the 
susceptible  mind  of  Luther  those  mystical  ideas  that 
were  so  prominent  in  his  character,  and  filled  so 
large  a  place  in  all  his  thinking.  Of  the  precur- 
sors of  Luther  among  the  German  mystics,  two 
are  especially  noteworthy  as  having  anticipated 
most  of  his  earlier  teachings.  John  of  Wesel. 
was  a  professor  at  Erfurt  and  preacher  at  Mainz. 
He  opposed  indulgences  and  other  errors  of  the 
Church ;  was  tried  for  heresy  in  1479,  recanted,  and 
died  in  prison  in  1481.  John  Wessel,  professor  at 
Heidelberg,  was  pursued  in  vain  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion and  died  peacefully  at  Groeningen  in  1489,  in 
his  seventieth  year.  Luther  was  astonished  to 
find  that  Wessel  had  taught  his  own  views  regard- 
ing indulgences  and  the  authority  of  the  Church. 
Neither  of  these  men  had  the  qualities  of  a  popular 
leader,  or  the  Reformation  in  Germany  might  have 
begun  with  them.  As  it  was,  they  taught  many  to 
look  away  from  the  Church  to  God. 


1 8  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

10.  The  Free  Cities 

One  of  the  chief  agencies  in  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation  was  the  growth  of  free  cities  in  Europe. 
A  free  city  was  one  that  had  achieved  its  independ- 
ence and  self-government.  The  revival  of  commerce 
that  followed  the  Crusades  and  the  renewed  inter- 
course with  the  East,  caused  the  merchant  classes  to 
increase  greatly  in  wealth  and  importance.  Manu- 
factures were  stimulated  equally  with  commerce; 
new  trades  sprang  up,  and  the  older  crafts  flourished 
anew.  This  new  wealth,  these  new  trades,  tended 
to  concentrate  in  the  cities,  where  the  tradesmen  and 
merchants  organized  themselves  into  guilds.  As 
guilds  of  all  kinds  became  more  numerous  and 
powerful  through  their  numbers  and  wealth,  they 
naturally  sought  to  gain  exemption  for  themselves 
from  the  exactions  of  their  feudal  lords.  In  some 
cases  by  open  revolt,  in  others  by  purchase,  they 
obtained  charters  that  gave  them  power  to  regulate 
their  own  internal  affairs,  on  the  performance  of 
certain  clearly  expressed  duties  of  military  service 
or  tribute.  The  city  then  took  the  place  of  an  in- 
dividual feudatory,  and  the  lord  became  bound  to 
protect  it  in  its  privileges,  and  defend  it  against 
attacks  from  any  other  power.  After  a  time,  as 
monarchs  wished  to  draw  upon  the  wealth  of  such 
free  cities,  they  granted  the  towns  representation  in 
diets  or  parliaments. 

These  free  cities  were  organized  on  one  general 
scheme   (of  course  with  local  variations).     Each 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  19 

guild  had  its  head,  called  alderman,  master,  etc.  It 
made  ordinances  for  the  regulation  of  its  members, 
and  infringement  was  punished  by  fine  or  expulsion. 
Citizenship  consisted  in  membership  in  some  guild; 
residents  not  members  of  a  guild  had  no  political 
rights.  The  heads  of  the  guilds  constituted  a  council 
for  the  government  of  the  city,  and  elected  one  of 
their  number  as  burgomaster  or  mayor.  Mayor  and 
council  exercised  legislative,  executive,  and  even 
judicial  functions. 

Cologne  was  the  first  German  city  to  obtain  great 
importance,  and  its  merchants  formed  a  hansa,  or 
league,  which  maintained  its  exclusive  privileges  for 
a  long  time.  Finally,  through  the  charter  of  Henry 
III,  in  1260,  recognizing  all  German  merchants  as 
entitled  to  his  equal  protection,  Hamburg  and  Lii- 
beck  were  enabled  to  become  independent  of 
Cologne,  and  its  merchants  formed  branch  hansas. 
Liibeck  and  Hamburg  formed  the  first  league  of 
cities,  but  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  hansa 
became  recognized  as  a  union  of  towns  instead  of 
merchants  merely.  From  1361  this  league  seems  to 
have  had  a  federal  constitution,  with  annual  meet- 
ings of  a  general  assembly.  At  its  height,  it  in- 
cluded eighty-five  cities.  There  were  four  divisions : 
Liibeck,  Cologne,  Brunswick,  Danzig,  were  the  re- 
spective centers,  and  Liibeck  was  the  recognized 
center  of  the  whole  league.  Hamburg,  the  third 
commercial  city  of  the  world,  Bremen,  and  Liibeck, 
members  of  this  long  extinct  hansa,  are  still  free 


20  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

cities  of  the  German  empire — the  only  survivals  in 
Europe  of  this  medieval  institution. 

Bibliography* 

The  literature  for  this  chapter  is  not  abundant  in 
English.  Comba's  History  of  the  W  aide  uses  of 
Italy  (London,  1889)  is  excellent,  being  based  on 
careful  research.  Newman's  History  of  Anti-Pedo- 
baptism  (A.  B.  P.  S.,  $2)  gives  an  excellent  account 
of  several  of  the  above-named  sects,  and  a  shorter 
account  may  be  found  in  Vedder's  Short  History  of 
the  Baptists  (illustrated  ed.,  $1.50).  The  biography 
of  WicHf,  in  the  "  Heroes  of  the  Nations  "  series 
is  more  up  to  date  than  the  more  elaborate  bi- 
ography by  Lechler  (Relig.  Tract  Soc,  3s.  6d.). 
Gillett's  Life  and  Times  of  John  Huss  (2  vols.  Bos- 
ton, 1 871)  is  still  the  standard  account  in  English. 
Villari's  Life  of  Savonarola  (Eng.  Tr.,  Scribners, 
$2)  is  the  best  account  of  that  reformer,  but 
Clark's  (McClurg,  $1)  is  briefer  and  very  service- 
able. A  book  that  every  student  of  the  Reformation 
should  read  is  Ullmann's  Reformers  Before  the 
Reformation  (2  vols.,  Clark,  Edinburgh),  and 
further  knowledge  of  the  medieval  mystics  may  be 
obtained  from  Vaughn's  Hours  With  the  Mystics 
(2   vols.,   London,    i860).     A   new   edition   lately 

1  Names  of  publishers  and  prices  are  given  in  these  bibliographies 
if  the  books  are  "  in  print."  Place  and  date  of  publication  are 
given  of  books  "  out  of  print,"  which  can  be  obtained  at  second- 
hand bookstores,  often  at  very  low  prices,  as  none  of  them  are 
"  rare  "  books. 


Preparations  for  a  Reformation  21 

issued  of  Miss  Winkworth's  Life  and  Sermons  of 
John  Tauler  (Eaton  &  Mains,  $1.50)  is  very  valu- 
able. On  the  development  of  the  free  cities,  consult 
Emerton's  Middle  Ages,  chap,  xv,  or  Thatcher  and 
Schwill's  similar  manual,  chap,  xvi,  and  the  Story 
of  the  Hansa  in  the  "  Story  of  the  Nations  "  series 
(Putnams,  $1.50). 

The  Quiz 

Who  was  Arnold  of  Brescia  ?  What  did  he  teach  ? 
Should  he  be  classed  as  Catholic  or  Protestant? 
What  vi^ere  the  doctrines  of  the  Petrobrusians  ? 
Who  and  what  were  the  Henricians  ?  How  did  the 
Waldenses  originate?  What  were  their  doctrines 
and  practices?  Where  were  the  Albigenses  found? 
Were  they  like  the  Waldenses?  What  did  Wiclif 
teach?  What  was  his  greatest  work?  Who  was 
John  Hus?  What  was  his  fate?  What  did  Savona- 
rola teach?  Why  was  he  condemned?  Was  he  a 
Protestant?  What  is  mysticism?  Name  two  in- 
fluential mystical  books.  Who  was  John  of  Wesel  ? 
Was  he  the  same  as  John  Wessel  ?  What  did  these 
men  teach?  How  did  the  Free  Cities  come  into 
existence?  How  were  they  organized?  What  was 
the  Hansa? 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    RENAISSANCE 

11.  Its  Significance 

Renaissance  is  the  name  given  to  the  first  stage  of 
the  continuous  movement  that  distinguishes  the 
modern  from  the  ancient  world.  The  name  de- 
scribes the  intellectual  and  moral  development  of 
Europe  in  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth,  and  fifteenth 
centuries.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  movement  is 
known  as  the  Reformation;  in  the  eighteenth  it  is 
called  the  Revolution.  The  Renaissance  is  in  the 
main  an  intellectual  advance,  and  its  aim  was  free- 
dom of  thought;  the  Reformation  was  a  religious 
advance,  its  aim  freedom  of  soul;  the  Revolution 
was  a  social  and  civic  advance,  its  aim  political  free- 
dom. The  Renaissance  begins  gradually,  as  the 
result  of  forces  that  had  long  been  working;  it  in- 
volves no  sharp  break  with  the  past.  Any  dates 
assigned  for  its  beginning  or  its  ending  are  arbi- 
trary and  have  no  real  significance. 

12.  Its  Beginning  in  Italy 

Italy,  as  the  seat  of  the  old  Roman  civilization, 
as  the  country  in  closer  commercial  and  political 
relations  with  the  East  than  others  in  Europe,  felt 
the  first  stirrings  of  the  new  intellectual  life.    Here 

22 


The  Renaissance  23 


the  renewed  study  of  the  best  Hterature  of  antiquity 
began,  especially  of  the  Greek  classics,  knowledge 
of  which  had  quite  vanished  from  medieval  Europe. 
Dante  (1265-1321)  may  be  reckoned  the  beginner  of 
this  revival  of  letters,  though  he  himself  had  only 
an  imperfect  and  second-hand  acquaintance  with 
Greek  literature.  His  writings,  however,  first  won 
literary  recognition  for  the  Italian  language  and 
awakened  the  Italian  people  to  national  self-con- 
sciousness. His  avowed  disciples  did  what  he  was 
unable  to  accomplish  for  the  study  of  the  ancient 
classics,  Petrarch  (1304-1374),  not  less  renowned 
in  his  day  as  a  scholar  than  as  a  poet,  was  devoted 
to  Hellenic  literature,  and  in  spite  of  great  difficul- 
ties made  considerable  attainments  in  the  classics. 
Boccacio  (13 13-1375)  was  the  other  member  of  a 
trio  that  had  a  decisive  influence  on  the  course  of 
thought  and  progress,  not  only  in  Italy  but  through- 
cut  Europe.  Under  the  leadership  of  these  men 
tie  study  of  Greek  classics  made  great  strides. 
This  rediscovered  literature  was  valued  because  of 
the  perfection  of  literary  form  and  the  broader 
ideals  of  life  that  it  disclosed,  as  well  as  for  the  en- 
couragement that  it  gave  to  the  pursuit  of  beauty 
and  to  freedom  of  thought. 

Florence  became  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  center 
of  classical  learning;  especially  under  the  Medici 
did  this  city  become  devoted  to  the  new  learning. 
Savonarola  did  much  for  its  promotion.  Greek 
teachers,   such  as   Chrysoloras  and  Bessarion,  re- 


24  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

sorted  thither  and  taught  the  classics  to  thousands 
of  eager  students.  Greek  manuscripts  were  sought 
after,  and  Hbraries  began  to  be  gathered.  Siena, 
Venice,  and  Genoa  followed  in  the  wake  of  Flor- 
ence, and  the  revival  of  letters  spread  through 
Italy  in  an  incredibly  short  time.  Princes  and  popes 
vied  with  one  another  as  patrons  of  this  new  learn- 
ing. Nicholas  V  and  Julius  II  were  preeminent  in 
its  encouragement,  little  appreciating  how  danger- 
ous the  Renaissance  was  to  be  to  the  papacy,  The 
invention  of  printing  increased  the  interest  in  the 
classics,  and  the  press  of  Aldus  Minutius,  at  Venice, 
rapidly  multiplied  the  ancient  writings. 

Much  of  this  classicism  was  a  mere  "  fad,"  but 
enough  of  it  was  genuine  to  have  a  beneficent,  stim- 
ulating effect.  Scholasticism,  with  its  deductive 
method  and  barren  dialectic,  began  to  be  discredited. 
The  scientific  method,  induction,  began  to  be  used, 
and  intellectual  progress  once  more  became  pos- 
sible. To  the  study  of  the  classics  succeeded  the 
study  of  the  original  Scriptures.  The  Renaissance 
thus  promoted  the  Reformation,  not  only  by  the 
general  awakening  of  mind,  widening  of  outlook, 
and  improvement  of  method  that  were  its  character- 
istics, but  by  leading  men  to  turn  from  the  authority 
of  the  Church  to  the  authority  of  Scripture. 

13.  Its  Revival  of  Art 

The  Renaissance  was  more  than  a  revival  of 
letters ;  in  Italy  it  was  also,  and  even  more,  a  revival 


The  Renaissance  25 


of  art.  This  too  was  largely  under  the  inspiration 
gained  by  the  study  of  the  surviving  masterpieces  of 
Greek  antiquity.  This  revival  took  the  form  first  of 
all  of  church  building,  as  was  natural,  since  archi- 
tecture has  always  been  the  foundation  of  all  art, 
and  there  were  in  the  Middle  Ages  abundant  sur- 
vivals of  the  best  type  of  Grecian  architecture.  The 
medieval  churches  were,  however,  even  in  Italy, 
rather  adaptations  than  imitations  of  pagan  architec- 
ture. The  thirteenth  century  witnessed  a  great  ac- 
cess of  interest  in  this  art  throughout  Italy,  and 
indeed  throughout  Europe.  Even  more  remarkable 
was  the  revival  that  almost  necessarily  followed  in 
the  arts  of  painting  and  sculpture — in  their  origin, 
at  least,  always  the  handmaids  of  architecture,  and 
inspired  by  a  religious  motive.  The  fifteenth  cen- 
tury was  the  golden  period  in  Italian  art,  and  the 
masterpieces  of  that  age  are  still  the  chief  glories 
of  the  great  galleries  of  Europe.  The  names  of 
Giotto  (1266-1337),  Leonardo  (1452-1519),  Ra- 
phael (1483-1520),  Michelangelo  (1475-1564)  and 
Titian  (1477-1576)  are  typical  of  the  varying  phases 
of  this  revival  and  represent  the  highest  achieve- 
ments of  Renaissance  art.  Sculpture  soon  lost  its 
dominant  religious  motive,  and  became  the  repre- 
sentation of  ideal  beauty;  but  in  painting,  religious 
subjects  largely  predominated  throughout  the  Re- 
naissance period,  and  even  long  after.  This  was  due 
less  to  the  piety  of  the  painters,  however,  than  to  the 
fact  that  the  Church  was  their  most  liberal  patron, 


26  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

and  dictated  the  choice  of  subjects  and  treatment. 

14.  German  Humanism 

The  Renaissance  spread  from  Italy  to  other  coun- 
tries, and  in  Germany  assumed  a  type  of  its  own. 
The  revival  of  art  overshadowed  the  literary  re- 
vival in  Italy,  but  in  Germany  literature  easily  held 
first  place.  Those  who  devoted  themselves  to  the 
study  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classical  writers 
were  called  "  humanists."  The  invention  of  print- 
ing in  Germany,  and  the  rapid  multiplication  of 
books  from  1500  on,  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the 
movement.  Nothing  did  more  to  promote  learning 
and  to  make  a  reformation  possible  than  the  print- 
ing-press. One  of  the  first  books  to  be  reprinted 
was  the  Bible,  and  by  1500  there  had  been  nearly 
a  hundred  editions  of  the  Vulgate,  while  by  1520 
there  had  been  seventeen  editions  of  the  German 
Bible.  The  study  of  Hebrew  was  promoted  by  the 
labors  of  the  great  German  scholar,  Reuchlin.  At 
Erfurt,  Heidelberg,  Nuremberg,  and  other  centers, 
groups  of  scholars  and  patrons  of  learning  and  art 
encouraged  the  new  movement.  Art  flourished  as 
well  as  literature.  Some  of  the  finest  cathedrals 
belong  to  this  period.  The  work  of  Holbein,  Diirer, 
and  Cranach  takes  a  high  place  in  Renaissance  art. 

15.  The  Rise  of  Universities 

The  new  interest  in  learning  promoted,  if  it  did 
not  produce,  the  founding  of  universities  in  all  the 


The  Renaissance  2y 

countries  of  Europe.  Some  of  the  older  of  these 
institutions  trace  their  origin  to  an  earlier  date,  but 
most  of  them  were  established  during  the  Renais- 
sance period.  New  chairs  were  established  for  the 
teaching  of  Greek  and  Hebrew.  Instruction  was 
given  mainly  by  lectures,  and  students  were  trained 
in  disputation  to  make  use  of  what  they  had  learned. 
The  test  of  graduation  was  ability  to  maintain  a 
thesis  against  all  opponents.  If  he  acquitted  himself 
well,  the  candidate  was  named  *'  Master  "  or  "  Doc- 
tor," which  was  merely  a  license  to  become  in  his 
turn  a  teacher.  Teachers  were  long  dependent 
upon  fees  received  from  their  students.  There 
was  a  common  type  of  organization.  The  teaching 
force  constituted  the  corporation  and  conferred  de- 
grees. Discipline  was  not  maintained  by  the  faculty, 
but  students  were  divided  into  "  nations,"  each  of 
which  elected  a  counselor;  the  board  of  counselors, 
with  the  "  rector,"  was  the  governing  body.  Many 
universities  had  special  privileges  that  constituted 
them  an  independent  community  and  offenses  com- 
mitted by  students  were  not  tried  in  the  ordinary 
courts,  but  by  the  university  authorities.  The  at- 
tendance at  these  universities  was  large,  though 
figures  sometimes  given  are  exaggerations — as 
when  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand  are  said  to  have 
attended  certain  universities.  The  University  of 
Paris,  the  largest,  probably  never  had  an  attendance 
exceeding  six  or  seven  thousand;  and  Bologna  or 
Oxford,  not  more  than  three  to  five  thousand. 


28  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

i6.  Erasmus 

Easily  the  first  of  the  humanists,  the  typical 
scholar  of  the  Renaissance,  was  Erasmus,  born  at 
Rotterdam,  probably  in  1465,  a  monk,  a  student  at 
the  University  of  Paris,  critic,  man  of  letters, 
satirist.  In  early  manhood  he  twice  visited  England, 
becoming  the  intimate  friend  of  Sir  Thomas  More 
and  John  Colet,  and  for  a  time  was  professor  at 
Cambridge  University.  By  his  writings  he  did  much 
to  bring  about  the  Reformation,  but  he  lacked  the 
moral  courage  to  join  the  reformers  and  break  with 
the  Church.  His  "  Colloquies "  and  ''  Praise  of 
Folly  "  were  put  on  the  Index,  but  otherwise  he 
escaped  condemnation,  and  died  in  nominal  com- 
munion with  the  Church,  though  among  Protestants. 
His  delicate  satires  of  the  monks,  and  the  pilgrim- 
ages, indulgences,  and  other  abuses  of  his  time, 
were  not  less  effective  than  the  coarse  denunciations 
of  Luther.  His  greatest  service  was  the  pubhcation, 
in  1520,  of  the  first  printed  text  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  he  several  times  revised,  and  finally 
published  with  comments,  in  which  the  errors  of 
the  Church  were  severely  criticized.  This  work 
gave  a  great  impulse  to  the  study  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  more  than  any  single  achievement  of  the 
time  strengthened  the  demand  for  reform.  Men 
could  not  read  the  New  Testament  without  discover- 
ing how  far  the  Church  had  departed  from  the  doc- 
trine and  practice  of  apostolic  times.  Erasmus,  with 
Melanchthon,  founded  the  science  of  exegesis. 


The  Renaissance  29 


17.  Its  Characteristics  and  Defects 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  Renais- 
sance is  its  prevailing  estheticism.  It  was  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  the  Greek  spirit,  and  to  the 
Greeks  beauty  was  truth,  truth  beauty.  There  was 
nothing,  therefore,  in  the  Renaissance  itself  to  re- 
generate Church,  State,  or  society.  It  was  only 
indirectly  valuable  to  Christianity,  as  it  fostered  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  and  liberty.  The  reaction  from 
medieval  dogmatism  was  excessive;  mental  free- 
dom ran  to  seed  in  rationalism  and  irreligion.  The 
Renaissance  thus  contained  within  itself  the  germs 
not  only  of  a  reformation  of  religion,  and  of  modern 
evangelical  religion,  but  of  modern  skepticism  as 
well.  The  tendency  of  the  movement  was  to  exag- 
gerate the  value  of  culture.  And  therefore,  ever 
since,  the  notion  has  more  or  less  prevailed  that 
men  need  only  to  be  enlightened  in  order  to  become 
better — a  notion  from  which  the  least  use  of  his 
faculties  of  observation  ought  speedily  to  free  any 
man  of  intelligence. 

While  the  Renaissance  broadened  the  field  of  hu- 
man sympathy  and  study,  it  also  in  some  respects 
narrowed  the  field.  In  its  first  stage,  at  least,  the 
movement  was  too  exclusively  literary.  And  even 
the  literary  activity  of  the  Renaissance,  while  it 
seemed  to  be  broadening  men's  minds,  was  really  to 
result  in  narrowing  them.  One  class  of  studies 
was  unduly  exalted.  Then  originated  the  mischiev- 
ous notion  that  so  long  enslaved  the  minds  of  men, 


30  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

from  which  indeed  they  have  yet  barely  escaped — 
that  the  Hteratures  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  these 
only  for  a  brief  period  arbitrarily  selected  and 
labeled  "  classical,"  are  the  only  literatures  worthy 
of  attention  on  the  part  of  men  of  culture. 

The  Renaissance  therefore  illustrates  a  general 
law  of  human  progress:  a  movement  which  in  its 
origin  is  in  the  direction  of  liberty,  a  reform  of 
hoary  abuses,  and  marks  a  step  forward  of  hu- 
manity, itself  becomes  fixed,  traditional,  obstructive 
in  its  turn,  until  it  too  demands  a  reformation. 
Progress  is  possible  only  by  continually  discarding 
that  which  served  well  its  day  in  favor  of  new 
truth  and  better  methods. 

Bibliography 

A  valuable  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Re- 
naissance is  the  article  on  that  subject  in  the  Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica.  The  most  full  and  authoritative 
work  is  Symonds's  Renaissance  in  Italy  (7  vols., 
Holt,  $2  each),  but  a  book  of  the  same  title  by 
Burckhardt  is  more  available  for  the  student  (Son- 
nenschein,  los.  6d.).  For  those  who  read  German, 
nothing  could  be  better  than  Geiger's  Renaissance 
und  Humanismus  in  Italien  und  Deutschland,  in  the 
"  Oncken  "  series  of  historical  works.  Emerton's 
Erasmus,  in  the  "  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  "  series 
is  an  ideal  biography,  and  may  be  supplemented  by 
Seebohm's  Oxford  Reformers  (Longmans,  $4) .  The 
Praise  of  Folly  and  the  Colloquies  of  Erasmus  may 


The  Renaissance  31 


be  had  in  several  English  versions.  On  the  artists 
and  art  of  the  period,  Vasari's  Lives  of  the  Painters 
is  still  the  classic,  and  a  handy  and  cheap  edition  of 
it  is  now  to  be  had  in  the  Temple  Classics.  Grimm's 
Michael  Angela,  Robinson  and  Rolfe's  Petrarch 
(Putnams,  $2),  and  Pater's  essays  on  The  Re- 
naissance (Macmillan,  $2)  are  books  by  no  means 
to  be  overlooked.  There  is  no  better  aid  to  the 
study  of  the  Renaissance  art  than  Newnes's  "  Art 
Series,"  a  volume  each  devoted  to  a  biography 
of  an  artist  and  an  account  of  his  chief  works, 
with  excellent  photo-engraved  reproductions  of  the 
masterpieces  (3s.  6d.  each).  On  the  universities, 
either  RashdalFs  Universities  of  the  Middle  Ages 
(Oxford,  1895)  or  Laurie's  Rise  and  Early  Consti- 
tution of  Universities  (Appleton,  $1.50)  will  be 
found  invaluable. 

The  Quiz 

What  is  meant  by  the  term  Renaissance?  When 
did  it  begin?  Where?  What  three  men  may  be 
named  as  leaders  of  the  movement?  What  city  be- 
came its  center?  Was  the  Renaissance  more  than 
a  revival  of  letters  ?  Name  some  of  the  great  artists 
of  the  Renaissance.  How  far  was  Renaissance  art 
influenced  by  religion?  What  country  next  became 
the  center  of  the  Renaissance?  What  were  the  ad- 
vocates of  the  new  learning  called?  What  great 
invention  promoted  this  revival?  Was  the  Bible 
widely  circulated?    Who  revived  the  study  of  He- 


32  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

brew?  What  immediate  effect  had  the  Renaissance 
on  education?  How  was  instruction  given  in  the 
universities  ?  What  did  the  degree  of  "  Doctor  " 
mean  ?  How  were  the  universities  organized  ?  How 
many  students  did  these  universities  have?  Who 
was  Erasmus  ?  What  are  his  most  famous  writings  ? 
Was  he  persecuted?  Did  he  become  a  reformer? 
What  was  his  greatest  service?  Why?  What  was 
the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  Renaissance? 
What  was  the  tendency  of  the  movement?  What 
would  you  call  its  chief  defect?  How  did  the 
Renaissance  finally  affect  education?  What  are 
''  classical "  studies  ?  Are  they  the  only  means  of 
culture?  What  general  law  does  the  Renaissance 
illustrate  ? 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

In  Chapters  I  and  II  we  have  considered  some  of 
the  ways  in  which  Europe  was  prepared  for  a  refor- 
mation of  rehgion.  Every  country  had  been  more 
or  less  leavened  with  the  teachmgs  of  the  evangelical 
party,  which,  under  different  names,  had  a  continu- 
ous history  from  the  twelfth  century  onward.  A 
reformation  was  surely  commg  in  some  form,  and 
beginning  somewhere.  Why  did  it  begin  in  Ger- 
many:? And  what  forces  determined  the  form  it 
should  take  there?  To  answer  these  questions  we 
must  review  the  state  of  Germany  in  1500. 

18.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire 

This  was  in  theory  the  supreme  secular  power, 
as  the  papacy  was  in  theory  supreme  in  spiritual 
affairs.  In  fact,  neither  ever  approached  univer- 
sality and  supremacy.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
the  empire  included  Germany,  a  portion  of  Italy, 
and  (nominally)  also  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Poland, 
and  Denmark.  Outside  of  Germany,  the  imperial 
power  was  fluctuating  and  doubtful ;  inside  it  was 
only  nominal.  An  oligarchy  of  princes  held  the 
real  power,  and  the  imperial  dignity  was  little  more 
than  an  empty  honor.  The  disintegration  of  Ger- 
c  33 


34  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

many  was,  indeed,  extreme ;  the  numerous  princes, 
dukes,  counts,  margraves,  prince-bishops,  and  free 
cities,  constituted  some  three  hundred  independent 
local  governments. 

The  empire  was,  in  fact,  a  federated  monarchy 
of  strictly  limited  powers.  In  practice,  the  emperor 
had  only  such  authority  over  the  States  as  the 
Diet  conferred  upon  him.  This  Diet  consisted  of 
three  bodies:  (i)  The  seven  electoral  princes; 
(2)  the  other  princes  of  the  empire,  comprising 
the  archbishop  of  Salzburg,  four  abbots,  two  preb- 
endaries, and  forty-four  secular  princes;  (3)  the 
free  imperial  cities,  represented  by  delegates.  Each 
of  these  bodies  met  separately,  and  the  third  estate 
voted  on  such  questions  only  as  were  sent  down  to 
them  by  the  two  other  estates.  When  the  three 
agreed — in  some  cases  the  agreement  of  two  orders 
was  sufficient — the  "  recess  "  was  submitted  to  the 
emperor  for  his  ratification.  The  Diet  held  regular 
meetings  every  spring  and  autumn.  It  is  plain 
how  this  political  state  of  Germany  favored  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation. 

19.  The  Church 

The  German  Church  was  a  State  within  the  State, 
each  ecclesiastic  owning  nominal  allegiance  to  the 
secular  ruler  through  whom  he  received  his  appoint- 
ment and  by  whom  he  was  supported,  but  giving  his 
real  fealty  to  the  pope.  As  in  all  other  countries  of 
Europe,  ecclesiastics  claimed  exemption  from  the 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  35 

laws  of  the  land.  The  princes  had  for  the  most 
part  retained  their  right  of  nomination,  and  this 
was  their  chief  hold  on  the  Church.  Friars  were 
very  numerous  and  all  the  monastic  houses  were 
wealthy.  There  was  great  jealousy  of  the  Church 
because  it  had  absorbed  so  much  wealth;  in  addi- 
tion to  its  tithes,  fees  were  charged  for  spiritual 
offices,  alms  were  begged,  special  contributions  were 
demanded  on  various  pretexts.  It  was  often  com- 
plained that  the  pope  got  more  gold  from  Germany 
than  the  princes  or  the  emperor.  The  Church  ac- 
quired whole  estates,  some  by  legacy,  others  by 
inducing  rich  young  heirs  to  enter  monastic  insti- 
tutions, again  by  buying  up  land  from  distressed 
owners.  It  had  become  so  rich  as  on  the  one  hand 
to  be  a  menace  to  the  State,  and  on  the  other  to 
tempt  rulers  to  lay  violent  hands  on  its  possessions. 
Though  the  clergy  were  supposed  to  hold  the  keys 
of  heaven,  through  the  sacraments,  their  corrupt 
lives  had  destroyed  all  respect  for  them  among  the 
people.  For  a  century  there  had  been  a  chronic 
and  increasing  bitterness  against  Rome;  and  had 
Luther  never  been  born,  or  had  the  question  of 
indulgences  never  led  him  into  revolt  against  Rome, 
a  national  uprising  against  the  papacy  would  surely 
have  occurred. 

20.  The  People 

There  were  three  classes:  the  nobility  (including 
the  knights),  the  burghers,  and  the  peasants.    The 


2,6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

knights  were  a  doomed  class,  but  could  not  see  that 
their  power  had  departed.  They  had  lost  none  of 
their  pride  and  independence,  and  with  their  rapid 
impoverishment  were  becoming  a  class  of  wild  and 
lawless  oppressors.  The  burghers  we  have  already 
sufficiently  discussed  under  Sec.  lo.  The  peasants 
were  of  three  grades :  leibeigener,  or  serf,  attached  to 
the  soil,  and  in  all  respects  amenable  to  his  lord's 
will;  the  horiger,  or  villein,  whose  services  were 
(theoretically)  limited  in  kind  and  amount;  and  the 
frier,  who  merely  paid  rent,  and  was  at  liberty  to 
change  his  abode  at  will.  These  distinctions  have 
left  their  traces  to  this  day.  But  the  peasant,  even 
the  frier,  had  inadequate  means  to  protect  his  rights 
and  defend  himself  against  oppression.  Hence  the 
class  was  in  a  state  of  chronic  unrest  and  revolt, 
which  tended  to  become  acute  frequently.  The 
peasant  was  in  a  state  of  mmd  to  welcome  eagerly 
anything  that  promised  him  relief. 

21.  Luther's  Early  Life 

Martin  Luther  was  born  in  the  little  town  of 
Eisleben,  November  lo,  1483.  His  father  was  a 
peasant,  a  miner,  and  a  poor  man,  but  determined 
to  educate  his  son  for  the  law.  Martin  was  sent 
to  school  at  Magdeburg  and  later  at  Eisenach.  As 
a  "  poor  scholar  "  he  used  to  sing  and  beg  food 
from  door  to  door.  Frau  Ursula  Cotta,  attracted  by 
his  sweet  voice,  took  him  into  her  house  and  treated 
him  as  son.     In  1501  he  entered  the  University  of 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  37 

Erfurt,  where  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree  in  the 
following  year,  and  proceeded  to  that  of  master  in 
1505.  Suddenly  abandoning  his  studies,  he  entered 
the  Augustinian  convent  July  17,  1505.  He  failed  to 
find  in  the  cloister  the  way  of  salvation  that  he 
sought,  but  through  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
advice  of  Doctor  Staupitz,  the  head  of  his  order, 
he  gradually  found  peace  and  an  assured  faith  in 
Christ  as  his  Saviour.  In  1508  he  became  professor 
in  the  new  University  of  Wittenberg,  where  he  took 
his  doctor's  degree  in  theology,  and  also  became 
town  preacher.  A  visit  to  Rome,  on  business  con- 
nected with  his  order,  was  an  epoch  in  his  life;  he 
now  became  acquainted  with  the  corruption  and 
irreligion  of  the  papal  court.  On  his  return  he 
resumed  his  lectures  on  the  Scriptures,  and  in  his 
comments  on  Galatians  developed  his  idea  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith.  He  had  already  unconsciously  di- 
verged greatly  from  the  orthodox  Catholic  theology, 
yet,  as  he  was  unconscious  of  the  fact,  might  have 
remained  to  the  end  of  his  life  an  apparently  loyal 
member  of  the  Church,  but  for  an  incident  that  hap- 
pened late  in  the  year  1517. 

22.  The  Theses  on  Indulgences 

Pope  Leo  X  was  anxious  to  raise  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  complete  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  Rome,  and 
he  issued  a  bull  promising  "  the  fullest  indulgences 
for  all  sins "  to  those  who  would  contribute  for 
this  purpose  according  to  their  means.    This  papal 


38  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

granting  of  indulgences  had  begun  during  the  Cru- 
sades, and  was  at  first  limited  to  those  who  actually 
took  the  cross  and  went  to  the  relief  of  the  Holy 
Land.  Then  it  was  extended  to  those  who  could 
not  go  in  person,  but  gave  money  to  send  others. 
Later  it  was  extended  to  other  help  given  to  the 
Church,  like  this  building  of  St.  Peter's.  At  first 
the  indulgences  were  limited  to  relieving  one  who 
was  penitent  and  duly  confessed  his  sins  from  the 
penance  that  would  otherwise  have  been  imposed; 
later,  indulgences  were  supposed  to  relieve  souls 
in  purgatory  from  part  or  all  of  the  penalty  of  their 
sins,  and  so  to  procure  them  immediate  admission 
into  heaven.  A  Dominican  friar  named  Tetzel  was 
appointed  to  sell  these  indulgences  in  Germany,  and 
by  an  arrangement  with  the  archbishop  of  Mainz 
(who  was  to  receive  half  the  proceeds)  he  began 
preaching  near  Wittenberg.  Luther  was  aroused 
by  the  harm  that  was  done  to  his  own  people,  and 
wrote  a  protesting  letter  to  the  archbishop,  who, 
of  course,  paid  no  attention  to  it,  and  Tetzel's  work 
went  merrily  on.  Luther  therefore  had  recourse  to 
an  expedient  common  in  the  universities,  and  chal- 
lenged scholars  to  a  disputation  on  the  subject  of 
indulgences,  for  which  purpose  he  prepared  ninety- 
five  theses,  which  he  pubHshed  in  the  usual  manner 
by  nailing  them  to  the  doors  of  the  Wittenberg 
Church,  October  31,  15 17.  These  theses  were  very 
moderate  in  tone,  but  they  denied  the  power  of  the 
pope  to  grant  indulgences  for  other  than  canonical 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  39 

penalties;  that  is,  those  imposed  in  accordance  with 
the  canons  of  the  Church.  Luther  did  not  see  that 
in  questioning  the  practice  of  indulgences  he  was 
really  striking  at  the  root  of  the  papal  assumptions, 
and  at  the  fundamental  Roman  doctrine  of  the  in- 
fallible authority  of  the  Church.  His  idea  was  only 
to  remedy  certain  crying  abuses.  He  had  no  thought 
of  beginning  a  reformation  or  leading  a  schism. 

23.  Leo  X  and  His  Policy 

The  theses  were  at  once  printed  and  circulated 
widely.  They  produced  a  great  sensation,  for  the 
people  instinctively  recognized  their  significance. 
A  vigorous  war  of  pamphlets  ensued,  and  all  Ger- 
many was  stirred.  When  the  matter  was  reported 
to  the  pope,  he  at  first  thought  it  only  a  squabble 
between  German  monks,  but  after  a  time  he  realized 
that  the  trouble  was  serious.  He  made  various  at- 
tempts to  silence  Luther,  but  was  unfortunate  in 
his  agents.  He  demanded  that  Luther  should  come 
to  Rome  and  be  tried  for  his  heresy,  but  Luther 
refused,  and  was  supported  by  Elector  Frederick,  of 
Saxony.  Finally,  Cardinal  Miltitz  came  to  Germany 
as  papal  envoy,  and  persuaded  Luther  that  he  would 
do  wrong  to  disturb  the  Church  further,  and  in- 
duced him  to  apologize  to  the  pope  for  the  violence 
of  his  language  and  remain  silent  if  his  opponents 
would  refrain  from  attacking  him.  Luther  earnestly 
desired  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Church,  and  was 
conscious  that  he  had  been  violent  in  controversy. 


40  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

24.  Leipzig  Disputation 

If  this  agreement  had  been  kept  in  good  faith, 
there  might  have  been  no  further  agitation,  but  the 
opponents  of  Luther  could  not  be  restrained — nor 
could  some  of  his  colleagues.  Dr.  John  Eck,  of  the 
University  of  Ingolstadt,  one  of  his  most  violent 
critics,  challenged  Carlstadt  (a  professor  at  Witten- 
berg) to  a  disputation,  and  Luther  finally  became 
involved  in  the  dispute.  The  discussion  was  held 
before  the  University  of  Leipzig,  as  neutral  ground, 
and  brought  together  a  large  audience  in  July,  15 19. 
Eck  was  a  skilful  debater,  perhaps  better  versed  in 
the  Fathers  than  Luther,  though  less  acquainted 
with  the  Scriptures,  and  he  apparently  had  the 
better  of  the  contest,  since  he  forced  Luther  from 
one  position  to  another,  until  the  latter  took  his 
stand  squarely  on  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  declared  that  popes  and  councils 
have  erred.  The  chief  effect  of  the  discussion  was 
to  clarify  the  ideas  of  Luther  and  to  send  him  back 
to  Wittenberg  to  study  the  Bible  and  the  history 
of  the  Church  anew. 

25.  Melanchthon 

Another  important  result  of  the  disputation  at 
Leipzig  was  that  it  finally  secured  to  the  Reforma- 
tion the  important  services  of  Philip  Melanchthon. 
This  young  scholar,  born  in  Baden  in  1497,  ^^^ 
educated  at  the  Universities  of  Heidelberg  and 
Tubingen,  had  won  a  European  reputation  before 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  41 

he  came  to  Wittenberg  in  15 18.  More  of  a  humanist 
than  Luther,  he  was  also  greatly  interested  in 
biblical  studies,  and  lectured  in  the  theological  de- 
partment of  the  university,  as  well  as  the  philosoph- 
ical, though  he  declined  the  Doctor's  degree  in 
theology.  He  went  to  Leipzig  as  the  friend  of 
Luther,  and  the  discussion  caused  him  to  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  reformers.  In  1521  he  published 
his  Loci  Communes,  a  brief  theological  treatise  that 
had  a  wide  circulation  and  did  much  to  promote 
evangelical  truth.  A  warm  friendship  between  him 
and  Luther  began  soon  after  his  coming  to  Witten- 
berg, and  continued  till  death  parted  them.  They 
complemented  each  other  admirably.  The  violence 
and  intolerance  of  Luther  were  greatly  moderated 
by  Melanchthon's  mildness  and  charity,  while  the 
timidity  and  irresolution  of  the  scholar  were  often 
fortunately  overruled  by  the  promptness  and  au- 
dacity of  the  man  of  affairs.  Luther  knew  how 
to  speak  to  the  hearts  of  the  people;  Melanchthon 
was  fitted  above  any  man  of  his  time  to  gain  the 
sympathy  of  the  learned.  The  Reformation  had 
need  of  both  the  people  and  the  scholars,  and  it 
won  both.  That  it  won  the  scholars  was  due  mainly 
to  Melanchthon,  and  without  his  pen  to  second  the 
voice  of  Luther,  the  Reformation  might  have  failed. 

26.  Luther's  Primary  Writings 

Another  fruit  of  the  Leipzig  disputation  was  the 
publication,  in  the  following  year,  of  three  important 


42  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

works  of  Luther,  which  did  much  to  promote  the 
Reformation.  The  first  was  an  "  Address  to  the 
NobiHty  of  the  German  Nation,"  in  which  he  urged 
each  prince  to  wait  no  more  for  the  action  of  pope 
or  council,  but  to  undertake  the  reform  of  the 
Church  in  his  own  domains.  This  reform  should 
include  the  suppression  of  monastic  institutions,  the 
abolition  of  the  interdict  and  ban,  the  independence 
of  the  princes  of  the  pope,  and  a  denial  of  transub- 
stantiation.  The  second  work  was  a  treatise  on 
"  Christian  Liberty,"  prefaced  by  a  remarkable  letter 
to  Pope  Leo  X,  and  denying  absolutely  the  Roman 
primacy  and  the  rightfulness  of  papal  supremacy. 
The  book  maintained  this  paradox :  a  Christian  man 
is  the  most  free  lord  of  all,  and  subject  to  none;  a 
Christian  man  is  the  most  dutiful  servant  of  all, 
and  subject  to  every  one.  The  third  writing  was  the 
**  Babylonian  Captivity  of  the  Church,"  in  which 
Luther  discussed  the  sacraments,  formally  denying 
the  Roman  doctrine  and  reducing  the  number  to 
three:  baptism,  the  eucharist,  and  penance.  He 
afterward  dropped  penance  from  the  list.  In  these 
three  books  Luther  fully  developed  his  ideas  as 
a  reformer,  and  never  afterward  changed  them  in 
essentials.  The  books  had  a  large  circulation,  and 
were  eagerly  read  by  the  common  people. 

27.  Luther's  Excommunication 

Doctor   Eck  went   from   Leipzig  to   Rome,   and 
busied  himself  in  procuring  his  rival's  excommuni- 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  43 

cation.  He  was  successful,  and  returned  to  Germany 
with  the  bull,  which  was  dated  September  21,  1520. 
It  condemned  as  heretical  forty-one  propositions 
extracted  from  Luther's  writings,  and  gave  him 
sixty  days  to  recant,  failing  which  the  excommuni- 
cation would  become  final ;  and  all  who  sympathized 
with  or  aided  Luther  were  also  to  be  punished  as 
heretics.  Luther  replied  in  a  characteristic  manner, 
by  publicly  burning  the  bull  in  Wittenberg,  Decem- 
ber 10.  This  was  destroying  his  bridges  behind  him, 
and  making  return  to  the  Roman  Church  impossible. 
The  final  excommunication  was  issued  January  3, 
1 52 1,  and  thus  the  schism  in  Germany  was  made 
complete  and  irrevocable.  It  only  remained  to 
establish  the  Reformation  and  secure  its  perpetu- 
ation. 

28.  The  Diet  of  Worms 

During  this  time  Luther  had  been  protected  by 
his  prince,  Elector  Frederick,  who  had  refused  to 
surrender  him  to  Rome.  The  political  state  of  the 
empire  made  it  inexpedient  to  put  pressure  on 
Fredenck.  for  his  vote  and  influence  were  desired 
in  the  comin^gIibtiQii--af-an-£mfi££ar,  as  Maximilian 
was  nearing  his  end.  There  were  three  candidates 
I  in  the  field :  Charles,  of  Spain ;  Francis  I,  of  France ; 
and  Henry  VJII,  of  England.  After  the  death  of 
I  Maximilian,  in  15 19,  Charles  was  chosen  emperor, 
mainly  through  the  influence  of  Frederick,  and  was 
crowned  at  Aachen,  October  23,   1520.     His  first 


44  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Diet  was  called  to  meet  in  Worms  the  following 
spring,  and  Luther  was  cited  to  appear,  the  emperor 
sending  him  a  safe-conduct.  His  friends,  remember- 
ing the  fate  of  Hus,  advised  him  not  to  go,  but  he 
insisted  on  appearing  and  making  his  defense.  His 
journey  to  Worms  was  a  continual  triumph.  His 
first  hearing  before  the  Diet  was  on  April  i6,  and 
he  remained  until  the  twenty-fifth.  He  firmly  re- 
fused to  retract  unless  convinced  from  the  Scrip- 
tures of  his  error.  The  safe-conduct  was  respected, 
and  he  was  dismissed  with  an  allowance  of  twenty- 
one  days  to  return  home.  Ari^edict  of  condemnation 
was  prepared  and  issued  in  the  name  of  the  emperor 
and  Diet,  though  never  formally  passed,  in  which 
Luther  was  pronounced  a  heretic  and  schismatic, 
and  was  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  empire.  All 
magistrates  were  commanded  to  seize  him  wherever 
found,  and  deliver  him  to  the  emperor;  while, 
under  penalty  of  a  like  ban,  all  persons  were  for- 
bidden to  receive,  defend,  maintain,  or  protect  him, 
either  in  word  or  writing;  and  all  his  adherents  were 
to  sufifer  confiscation  of  property,  unless  they  re- 
ceived absolution  by  apostolic  authority.  If  the 
emperor  had  possessed  the  power  to  execute  this 
decree,  the  Reformation  could  have  been  stopped  in 
a  very  summary  manner.  Its  enforcement,  however, 
depended  not  on  the  emperor,  but  on  the  princes 
and  cities.  If  they  were  hostile  to  Luther  and  his 
gospel,  they  enforced  it ;  if  favorable,  they  treated  it 
as  waste  paper. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  45 

29.  Luther  at  the  Wartburg 

Frederick  was  now  in  a  quandary :  he  was  unwill- 
ing to  abandon  Luther  to  his  enemies,  but  openly 
to  protect  him  was  to  bid  defiance  to  the  emperor 
and  perhaps  provoke  the  latter  to  violent  measures. 
Accordingly,  on  his  way  homeward,  on  May  4, 
Luther  was  "  captured  "  by  "  bandits  "  and  disap- 
peared from  public  view  for  months.  Many  be- 
lieved him  dead;  even  his  best  friends  were  not  in 
the  secret  for  a  time.  This  was  Frederick's  device 
for  securing  his  safety,  and  he  was  taken  to  the 
elector's  castle  of  the  Wartburg,  near  Eisenach,  and 
there  resided  in  safety.  He  employed  this  time  of 
leisure  in  literary  work,  especially  in  making  a  ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament  in  the  Saxon  German  of 
his  day.  Though  there  were  several  German  ver- 
sions then  in  circulation,  their  German  was  archaic, 
and  they  were  made  from  the  Vulgate.  Luther 
made  his  version  from  the  Greek  text  of  Erasmus, 
and  took  great  pains  to  make  a  faithful  and  idio- 
matic translation — to  "  make  the  Bible  speak  Ger- 
man," as  he  said.  After  a  revision  by  Melanchthon, 
this  German  New  Testament  was  published  Sep- 
tember 21,  1522.  The  Old  Testament  part  was  not 
ready  for  publication  until  1534,  and  in  this  Luther 
had  the  help  of  several  other  scholars.  This  was,  on 
the  whole,  Luther's  greatest  contribution  to  the  Ref- 
ormation. By  putting  the  whole  Bible  into  the 
hands  of  the  people,  in  their  mother  tongue,  he  made 
it  possible  for  every  German  to  see  for  himself  how 


46  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

little  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Church  were  recon- 
cilable with  the  word  of  God.  The  version  became 
the  standard  of  literary  German,  and  has  had  an 
influence  as  deep  and  abiding  on  the  intellectual  as 
on  the  spiritual  life  of  Germany.  With  some  revi- 
sions, not  altering  its  essential  character,  it  remains 
the  Bible  of  the  German  people  to  this  day. 

While  Luther  was  thus  living  in  quiet  at  the 
Wartburg,  great  disorder  prevailed  in  Wittenberg. 
The  people  broke  into  the  churches,  removed  the 
images,  and  destroyed  them.  Carlstadt  took  the 
lead  in  more  radical  reforms  than  Luther  approved, 
and  the  Communion  was  celebrated  in  both  kinds. 
Certain  "  prophets "  from  Zwickau  increased  the 
confusion  by  their  preaching.  They  claimed  to  have 
revelations,  and  to  speak  by  special  inspiration. 
Melanchthon  was  greatly  impressed  by  them,  and 
was  much  disturbed  about  infant  baptism,  which 
the  "  prophets "  opposed  as  unauthorized  by  the 
New  Testament.  Luther  finally  became  so  much 
concerned  that  he  left  the  shelter  of  the  Wartburg 
and  returned  to  Wittenberg,  and  by  a  series  of  daily 
sermons  again  resumed  the  leadership  and  restored 
order.  He  was  not  disturbed,  as  by  this  time  the 
emperor  was  too  busy  elsewhere  to  pay  much  atten- 
tion to  affairs  in  Germany. 

Bibliography 

For  the  state  of  Germany  on  the  eve  of  the 
Reformation,  Bax's  German  Society  at  the  Close  of 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  47 

the  Middle  Ages  (Macmillan,  $1.75)  may  be  con- 
sulted with  profit  as  also  the  first  chapters^f  Beard's 
Martin  Luther  (London,  1889),  which  is  the  best 
biography  of  the  reformer  for  the  period  covered 
by  this  chapter.  For  his  whole  life,  the  volume 
by  Jacobs  in  the  "  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  "  series 
is  to  be  commended.  Michelet's  Life  of  Luther 
(Bohn,  $1.50)  is  very  valuable  for  its  profuse  quo- 
tations from  the  reformer's  writings.  The  best  Life 
of  Melanchthon  in  English  is  by  Richards,  in  the 
"  Heroes  of  the  Reformation."  Of  the  numerous 
general  histories  of  the  Reformation,  Seebohm's 
Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,  in  the  "  Epochs  of 
History  "  series,  is  the  briefest  and  one  of  the  best. 
Fisher's  history  is  fuller,  and  scholarly — a  new  and 
revised  edition  has  been  published  (Scribners,  $2.50). 
Hagenbach's  (Edinburgh,  Clark)  is  solid  and  serv- 
iceable, and  Hausser's,  though  now  old,  is  still 
valuable  for  its  discussions  of  the  political  side  of 
the  movement.  Doctor  Schaff's  large  volume  con- 
tains a  mass  of  information  of  great  value  for  the 
serious  student,  but  too  little  digested  for  the 
reader  (Scribners,  $4).  The  History  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, by  Lindsay  (2  vols.,  Scribners,  $2.50  ea.), 
is  an  invaluable  manual  for  the  student.  The  book 
most  common  in  Protestant  libraries,  D'Aubigne's 
History  of  the  Reformation,  is  seriously  defective  in 
that  it  presents  but  a  single  phase  of  the  subject 
and  ignores  all  unpleasant  facts.  Those  who  would 
get  the  Catholic  point  of  view  can  do  so  by  reading 


48  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

the  chapters  relating  to  the  Reformation  in  Alzog's 
Church  History,  or  from  Spalding's  History  of  the 
Reformation  (Baltimore,  1875),  or  the  great  work 
by  Janssen  on  The  German  People  in  the  Time  of  the 
Reformation  (12  vols.,  thus  far  in  the  Eng.  Tr., 
Herder,  $3  each).  For  the  theological  questions 
involved,  Dorner's  History  of  Protestant  Theology 
is  the  best  authority  (2  vols.,  Clark,  Edinburgh,  $6). 

The  Quiz 

What  was  the  nominal  extent  of  the  empire? 
What  was  its  real  extent?  Who  had  the  real 
power?  How  would  you  describe  the  government 
of  the  empire  ?  How  was  the  Diet  composed  ?  How 
did  it  legislate?  What  power  really  had  the  em- 
peror? What  was  the  status  of  German  ecclesias- 
tics? Who  appointed  them?  How  did  the  Church 
become  rich?  How  did  the  people  feel  about  this? 
Did  the  people  respect  the  clergy?  Did  they  fear 
the  clergy?  Did  Luther  cause  the  Reformation? 
What  three  classes  were  found  among  the  people? 
What  was  the  difference  between  the  various  grades 
of  peasants?  Were  they  satisfied  with  their  condi- 
tion? Give  an  account  of  the  early  life  of  Luther. 
Why  did  he  become  a  monk?  What  was  his 
career  at  Wittenberg?  Do  you  think  he  was  a 
sincere  Catholic?  What  were  indulgences?  How 
were  they  supposed  to  relieve  sinners?  Who  was 
Tetzel?  Why  did  Luther  oppose  him?  Why  did 
not  the  archbishop  interfere  ?    What  was  the  nature 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  49 

of  Luther's  theses  ?  Why  did  Luther  pubhsh  them  ? 
What  was  their  effect?  Did  the  pope  understand 
the  matter  ?  What  did  he  attempt  to  do  ?  How  did 
the  Leipzig  disputation  come  about?  Why  was  it 
held  at  Leipzig?  Who  had  the  advantage?  What 
was  the  effect  on  Luther?  On  Melanchthon?  Give 
an  account  of  Melanchthon.  What  was  his  value 
to  the  Reformation?  What  were  Luther's  Primary 
Writings?  Give  a  brief  account  of  each.  Why 
was  Luther  excommunicated?  How  did  he  retort? 
Why  was  not  Luther  promptly  suppressed?  Who 
was  chosen  emperor  to  succeed  Maximilian?  What 
did  Luther  do  before  the  Diet  of  Worms?  What 
was  the  decree  against  him  ?  Was  this  legal  ?  Was 
it  enforced?  What  became  of  Luther  after  this? 
What  was  Luther's  greatest  work?  What  effect 
did  his  version  have?  What  occurred  at  Witten- 
berg during  his  absence?  What  did  he  do  about 
it?     Why  was  he  unmolested? 


CHAPTER  IV 

COMPLETION  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  REFORMATION 

30.  The  Peasant  War 

The  German  princes  generally  refused  to  enforce 
the  Worms  decree  until  they  had  obtained  a  redress 
of  grievances  from  emperor  and  pope.  Some  of  the 
advocates  of  reform  were  in  favor  of  violent  meas- 
ures, but  Luther  consistently  opposed  the  use  of 
the  sword  as  a  means  of  propagating  the  truth.  He 
had  no  objection,  however,  to  its  use  to  maintain 
law  and  order.  In  the  spring  of  1525,  a  long- 
threatened  revolt  of  the  peasants  occurred,  and  was 
accompanied  by  many  outrages.  The  lot  of  the 
peasants  was  a  hard  one,  and  their  demands  are 
now  conceded  to  have  been  just,  but  their  acts  of 
violence  were  made  the  pretext  for  a  severe  retali- 
ation. Luther  at  first  gave  their  cause  encourage- 
ment, and  called  on  the  princes  to  do  them  justice ; 
afterward  he  condemned  their  violence  in  language 
as  violent,  and  exhorted  the  princes  to  slay  them 
without  mercy.  A  hundred  thousand  peasants  are 
thought  to  have  lost  their  lives  as  a  result  of  this 
insurrection,  and  their  lot  was  made  worse  rather 
than  better.  From  this  time  can  be  traced  a  change 
in  the  ideas  arid  acts  of  Luther.  He  came  to  believe 
that  the  people  could  not  be  trusted  to  order  the 
50 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Re forfnation      51 

affairs  of  tlie  church,  and  that  good  order  could  be 
had  only  by  the  princes  taking  all  ecclesiastical 
authority  into  their  own  hands. 

31.  The  Protest  at  Speyer 

At  successive  meetings  of  the  Diet,  the  German 
princes  refused  to  suppress  the  Reformation  by 
force,  and  at  the  Diet  of  Speyer,  held  in  1526,  it 
was  enacted  that  "  every  State  shall  live,  rule,  and 
believe  so  that  it  shall  be  ready  to  answer  for  itself 
before  God  and  his  imperial  majesty."  This  vir- 
tually gave  the  rulers  a  free  hand  in  matters  of 
religion,  and  a  considerable  number  of  them  pro- 
ceeded to  introduce  the  Reformed  faith.  Anhalt, 
Franconia,  Liineberg,  Hesse,  Schleswig-Holstein, 
Silesia,  and  Prussia  followed  the  example  of  the 
elector  of  Saxony,  and  either  permitted  or  openly 
favored  the  new  doctrine  and  practice.  Nurem- 
berg, Augsburg,  Ulm,  Strassburg,  and  other  free 
cities  also  adopted  the  reformed  religion.  During 
this  time  the  emperor  was  too  much  occupied  with 
war  against  France  and  other  troubles  to  interfere 
with  German  affairs ;  but  his  defeat  of  Francis  I,  in 
1525,  and  his  capture  of  Rome,  in  1527,  made  him 
for  a  time  undisputed  master  in  Europe.  When  the 
Diet  assembled  at  Speyer  again,  in  1529,  he  was  able 
to  dictate  a  policy  of  hostility  to  the  reform,  and 
procure  a  decree  that  "  whoever  has  hitherto  acted 
on  the  edict  of  Worms  shall  continue  to  do  so.  In 
those  districts  where  it  has  not  been  observed  no 


52  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

further  innovation  shall  be  made,  and  no  one  shall 
be  prevented  from  celebrating  mass."  Five  princes, 
and  representatives  of  fourteen  free  cities,  signed  a 
protest  against  the  validity  of  the  decree,  and  de- 
clared their  purpose  to  abide  by  the  word  of  God 
alone.  From  this  time  the  Reformers  were  called 
Protestants.  After  making  their  protest,  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  Philip  of  Hesse,  and  the  cities  of  Nu- 
remberg, Ulm,  Strassburg,  and  St.  Gall  formed  a 
league  for  mutual  protection  and  self-defense.  It 
was  apparent  that  an  attempt  would  sooner  or  later 
be  made  to  suppress  the  Reformation  by  force,  and 
that  the  Protestants  must  stand  together  or  be 
defeated. 

32.  The  Marburg  Colloquy 

This  wise  measure  was  frustrated  by  the  bigotry 
of  Luther.  Some  of  the  cities  that  entered  into 
this  league  had  adopted  the  Zwinglian  form  of  the 
Reformation,  and  Luther  did  not  think  Zwingli 
sound  in  the  faith,  so  he  was  unwilling  to  be  con- 
nected with  Zwinglians  in  any  way,  and  persuaded 
the  Elector  of  Saxony  to  withdraw.  But  Philip  of 
Hesse  saw  the  absolute  necessity  of  unity  among 
the  Protestants,  and  made  a  great  effort  to  secure 
it.  As  a  step  in  that  direction  he  persuaded  Luther 
and  Zwingli,  with  some  of  their  adherents,  to  meet 
at  his  castle  of  Marburg  and  discuss  their  differ- 
ences. The  debate  lasted  several  days,  and  de- 
veloped irreconcilable  views  regarding  the  eucharist. 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      53 

Luther,  interpreting  literally  the  words,  "  This  is  my 
body,"  insisted  that  with  the  bread  and  wine  the 
true  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  received;  while 
Zwingli  interpreted  the  words  as  equivalent  to 
"  This  signifies  my  body,"  and  saw  in  the  eucharist 
only  a  memorial  of  the  death  of  Christ.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  debate,  Zwingli,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  offered  his  hand  to  Luther  as  a  Christian 
brother,  but  Luther  refused  to  take  it,  saying  (more 
truthfully  than  he  knew),  "You  have  a  different 
spirit  than  we."  No  possibility  of  doctrinal  agree- 
ment could  be  discovered,  and  Luther  continued  to 
oppose  political  union  with  men  whom  he  esteemed 
heretics.  To  his  bigoted  obstinacy  was  chiefly  due 
the  subsequent  woes  that  overtook  Germany,  for 
the  disunion  on  which  he  insisted  nearly  resulted  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  Protestants,  and  did  bring 
on  them  terrible  sufferings. 

33.  The  New  Church  Order 

The  throwing  off  of  the  papal  yoke  in  Germany 
naturally  produced  much  confusion.  Neither  people 
nor  priests  knew  what  to  do  when  they  had  re- 
nounced the  pope  and  had  substituted  no  other  au- 
thority. It  was  natural  that  the  rulers  should 
assume  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  attempt  to  regu- 
late doctrine  and  practice,  especially  as  Luther 
strongly  urged  them  to  do  so.  The  suppression  of 
the  monasteries  and  confiscation  of  the  property  of 
the  Church  offered  the  princes  a  tempting  oppor- 


54  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

tunity  to  enrich  themselves,  and  greed  rather  than 
zeal  for  religion  made  many  of  them  Protestants.  In 
1527  Luther  persuaded  the  elector  to  appoint  a 
commission  of  visitation,  of  which  he  and  Melanch- 
thon  were  the  most  influential  members,  to  set  in 
order  the  churches  of  Saxony.  The  other  princes 
followed  this  example,  and  a  general  type  of  doc- 
trine and  practice  prevailed,  though  no  two  States 
established  exactly  the  same  system.  As  few  bish- 
ops adopted  the  new  religion,  and  the  Reformers  did 
not  consider  episcopal  succession  necessary,  the 
princes  assumed  the  administrative  functions  of  the 
bishops,  and  their  spiritual  functions  were  remitted 
to  the  presbyters.  The  sovereign  ruled  the  church 
by  proxy,  establishing  for  this  purpose  a  consistory, 
on  the  model  of  the  episcopal  courts  that  had  assisted 
the  bishop  in  the  old  order.  In  Hesse  and  some 
other  States  a  presbytery  was  organized,  which  ful- 
filled the  same  function.  The  consistories  or  pres- 
byteries appointed  and  removed  pastors.  The  wor- 
ship was  made  more  evangelical ;  the  images  and 
pictures  of  the  saints  were  mostly  removed,  the  few 
retained  being  regarded  as  objects  of  art,  not  of 
worship.  The  service  was  in  the  vernacular 
throughout,  and  the  reading  and  exposition  of 
Scripture  took  first  place.  The  sacraments  were 
reduced  to  baptism  and  the  eucharist,  and  the  latter 
was  administered  in  both  kinds.  Marriage  was  still 
celebrated  in  the  church,  and  orders  and  confirma- 
tion were  retained,  but  these  were  no  longer  re- 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      55 

garded  as  sacraments.  Auricular  confessions,  pen- 
ance, and  extreme  unction  were  entirely  abandoned. 
A  large  place  was  assigned  to  song  in  the  new 
order  of  worship,  and  Luther  did  hardly  any  greater 
service  to  his  generation  than  by  the  impulse  that 
he  gave  to  Christian  hymnology,  through  the  hymns 
and  music  that  he  composed  or  arranged. 

34.  The  Augsburg  Confession 

In  1530  Charles  V  was  at  the  summit  of  his 
power.  He  had  made  peace  with  Francis  I  and 
the  pope,  and  had  been  crowned  emperor  at  Bologna. 
The  menace  of  Turkish  invasion  was  removed  for  a 
time,  and  he  could  give  his  attention  to  the  affairs 
of  Germany.  The  Diet  was  summoned  to  meet 
during  the  summer  at  Augsburg,  and  Charles  came, 
attended  by  an  imposing  military  suite,  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  now  regulating  the  affairs  of 
Church  and  State.  He  summoned  the  Lutheran 
princes  before  him,  and  commanded  them  to  cease 
worshiping  according  to  the  reformed  rites  and  sub- 
mit to  the  authority  of  the  pope,  but  they  resolutely 
told  him  that  this  matter  concerned  conscience,  and 
conscience  was  beyond  his  power  to  command,  even 
as  emperor.  Charles  was  unable  to  press  the  matter, 
for  in  spite  of  his  supremacy  in  Europe,  his  treas- 
ury was  empty  and  his  army  was  melting  away.  He 
needed  both  men  and  money  from  Germany  so  badly 
that  he  was  forced  to  pursue  a  conciliatory  policy, 
rather    than    one    of    high-handed    suppressioir    of 


56  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

reform.  On  his  promise  that  a  general  council 
should  be  called  at  once,  to  meet  in  Germany  and 
settle  affairs,  the  subsidies  were  voted. 

The  Protestant  princes  were  requested  to  draw 
up  a  statement  of  their  beliefs,  which  Melanchthon 
did  in  their  behalf,  and  this  has  ever  since  been 
known  as  the  Augsburg  Confession.  It  is  divided 
into  two  parts.  Part  I  contains  twenty-one  articles, 
in  which  the  Protestant  faith  is  clearly  stated.  Part 
II  is  directed  against  the  errors  of  the  Roman 
Church,  such  as  withholding  the  cup  from  the  laity, 
the  enforced  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the  sacrifice  of 
the  mass,  compulsory  auricular  confession,  the  mul- 
tiplication of  feasts  and  fasts,  and  gives  the  reasons 
why  these  things  cannot  be  accepted  by  Protestants. 
A  refutation  of  the  Confession  was  prepared  by 
Eck  and  other  Catholic  divines.  The  Diet  passed  a 
decree,  commanding  the  Protestants  to  make  no 
further  innovations,  and  to  assist  the  emperor  in 
suppressing  Anabaptists  and  other  sects.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  now  threatening  state  of  affairs,  the 
Protestant  princes  met  at  Smalcald  at  Christmas 
and  formed  a  league  for  mutual  protection  during 
the  next  six  years.  The  Catholics  formed  a  similar 
league  at  Nuremberg,  and  it  was  evident  that  civil 
war  could  not  be  long  postponed. 

35.  Death  of  Luther 

Just  as  the  two  sides  were  appealing  to  arms,  the 
Protestant  cause  received  a  staggering  blow  in  the 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      57 

death  of  Luther,  February  18,  1546.  It  is  not  with- 
out good  reason  that  he  has  ever  since  been  regarded 
as  the  central  figure  of  this  great  struggle.  He  was 
a  man  of  tremendous  force,  and  had  the  defect  of 
this  quality,  that  he  was  often  rough,  overbearing, 
headstrong.  But  we  must  remember  Heine's  say- 
ing, "  Revolutions  are  not  made  with  rose-water," 
if  we  would  judge  him  fairly.  He  had  passed 
through  a  spiritual  experience  that  gave  him  a  firm 
hold  of  the  eternal  verities.  He  believed  with  all  his 
heart  in  the  truths  that  he  proclaimed.  He  left  a 
deeper  and  more  permanent  impress  on  Germany 
than  any  single  man  that  country  has  ever  produced. 

37.  The  Smalcald  War 

The  desertion  of  the  Protestant  league  by  Mau- 
rice of  Saxony  made  civil  war  inevitable,  and 
also  foreshadowed  the  defeat  of  the  Protestants, 
whose  only  hope  lay  in  union.  The  emperor  at- 
tacked and  defeated  them  in  detail.  Elector  John 
Frederick,  of  Saxony,  was  defeated  and  taken  pris- 
oner at  Miihlberg,  April  26,  1547.  Philip  of  Hesse, 
unable  to  make  head  against  the  emperor  alone, 
surrendered,  and  the  other  princes  followed  his  ex- 
ample. Charles  then  proclaimed  the  Augsburg  In- 
terim, which  Maurice  published  with  some  modi- 
fications at  Leipzig.  These  interims  were  an  attempt 
to  make  a  temporary  settlement  of  the  religious  ques- 
tion, until  the  meeting  of  the  general  council,  long 
promised.    In  effect,  they  restored  the  usages  of  the 


58  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Roman  Church,  but  permitted  the  preaching  of  the 
Protestant  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  and  the 
Hke.  Melanchthon  advised  Protestants  to  accept 
the  interims,  on  the  ground  that  rites  and  ceremonies 
are  matters  of  indifference  (adiaphora).  Most  of 
the  Lutherans  refused  to  accept  this  advice,  and  a 
long  and  bitter  controversy  followed. 

37.  The  Peace  of  Augsburg 

Maurice  became  dissatisfied,  and  turned  against 
the  emperor,  as  he  had  previously  turned  against 
his  Protestant  allies.  A  secret  league  was  formed 
against  Charles,  and  the  conspiracy  proved  wholly 
successful.  The  emperor  was  surprised  near  Inns- 
bruck and  narrowly  escaped  capture.  His  power 
in  Germany  was  completely  shattered,  the  Turks 
were  threatening  him  afresh,  and  war  with  France 
had  again  broken  out.  His  brother  Frederick  was 
commissioned  to  make  peace  in  Germany  on  the  best 
terms  possible,  and  a  preliminary  treaty  was  made 
at  Passau,  in  1552,  followed  by  another  treaty  at 
Augsburg,  in  1555,  which  was  described  as  a  "  gen- 
eral, continuous,  and  perpetual  peace."  It  provided 
that  thenceforth  no  State  of  the  empire  should 
make  war  on  another  on  account  of  religion,  but 
that  each  should  be  permitted  to  choose  its  religion 
for  itself.  The  religion  of  the  Augsburg  Confession 
should  be  tolerated  equally  with  the  Catholic,  but 
only  as  between  the  States.  Those  who  could  not 
accept  the  religion  established  in  any   State  were 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      59 

free  to  dispose  of  their  goods  and  remove  to  another. 
If  any  bishop  or  ecclesiastical  prince  changed  his 
faith,  he  should  resign  his  office  and  permit  a  Catho- 
lic successor  to  be  chosen  in  his  stead.  This  clause, 
known  as  the  "  ecclesiastical  reservation,"  became 
the  occasion  of  much  dispute  later.  Also  the  refusal 
of  toleration  to  any  form  of  Protestantism  save  the 
Lutheran,  became  impossible  of  enforcement  in  a 
short  time.  But  though  a  very  unsatisfactory  com- 
promise in  some  respects,  the  Peace  of  Augsburg 
proved  a  workable  system  for  several  generations, 
and  secured  peace  to  Germany.  Had  it  been  ob- 
served in  good  faith  by  both  parties,  the  peace 
might  have  remained  permanent. 

38.  Progress  of  Protestantism 

The  year  1555  and  the  Peace  of  Augsburg  may  be 
regarded  as  marking  the  culmination  of  the  Protes- 
tant Reformation.  At  that  date,  approximately,  the 
reform  movement  reached  the  height  of  its  nu- 
merical strength  and  territorial  extension.  The 
details  of  many  of  these  Reformation  movements  we 
have  yet  to  study,  but  we  may  anticipate  so  far  as 
to  give  here  a  summary  of  the  results.  The  revolt 
from  Rome  was  not  only  general  in  Germany,  but 
had  now  spread  to  Denmark,  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula,  the  Netherlands,  Switzerland,  England, 
Scotland.  The  reform  was  not  complete  in  all  these 
countries,  nor  did  the  Lutheran  type  of  reform 
eventually  prevail  in  all  of  them,  but  it  was  already 


6o  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

assured  that  they  would  become  Protestant.  Be- 
sides these  countries  in  which  the  Reformation  had 
prevailed,  or  was  soon  to  prevail,  it  had  made  a 
strong  impression  in  some  lands  that  were  ultimately 
to  remain  Catholic.  A  strong  Protestant  party  had 
grown  up  in  France,  the  progress  of  evangelical 
principles  in  Italy  and  Spain  was  giving  the  Church 
great  uneasiness;  in  Poland,  Bohemia,  and  Hun- 
gary, Protestant  churches  were  everywhere  to  be 
found.  In  most  of  these  countries  the  Protestant 
faith  had  won  temporary  toleration ;  in  many  it  was 
already  the  established  religion.  Nevertheless,  the 
strength  of  Protestantism  was  more  apparent  than 
real;  not  for  a  single  generation  was  it  to  maintain 
the  ground  it  had  thus  won,  even  in  Germany. 
The  territorial  system  that  had  prevailed  was  not 
only  indefensible  in  theory,  but  politically  unwise, 
a  constant  incitement  to  discord  and  almost  certain 
to  result  in  civil  war.  There  was  a  hopeless  division 
between  the  Lutherans  and  the  adherents  of  the 
Reformed  religion,  and  both  were  at  variance  with 
tlie  more  radical  groups  of  Reformers.  That  a  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand,  history  testifies 
as  well  as  Scripture. 

39.  The  Bright  Side  of  the  Reformation 

The  Lutheran  Reformation  was  resultant  of  two 
opposite  and  irreconcilable  principles,  which  from 
the  beginning  struggled  for  supremacy.  On  the 
one  side — and  this  constituted  the  strength  of  the 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      6 1 

movement — it  was  essentially  a  revival  of  spiritual 
religion,  the  fruit  of  the  evangelical  teaching  of 
the  ages  preceding.  The  early  stages  of  the  reform 
are  especially  marked  by  this  characteristic,  as  is 
evident  when  we  consider:  (i)  Its  occasion,  a 
spiritual  question:  the  protest  against  indulgences, 
a  struggle  against  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by 
works,  in  behalf  of  the  spiritual  principle  of  salva- 
tion by  faith.  (2)  The  evangelical  teachings  of  the 
Reformers,  especially  in  their  earlier  writings.  (3) 
The  prominence  given  by  the  Reformers  to  the 
translation  and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures.  (4) 
The  simplification  of  public  worship,  stripping  it  of 
its  formalism  and  enhancing  its  spiritual  elements. 
This  was  prominent  in  the  early  years  of  the  Lu- 
theran reform.  (5)  That  the  leaders,  with  all  their 
imperfections  and  faults,  were  men  of  genuine  piety, 
who  had  passed  through  a  real  and  deep  religious 
experience,  and  therefore  sought  to  promote  a  re- 
ligion of  the  spirit,  not  of  the  letter.  All  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  Reformation  were  achieved  through 
strict  adherence  to  this  principle ;  all  the  failures  of 
the  Reformers  may  be  traced  to  their  deviation 
from  this  principle. 

40-  The  Seamy  Side  of  the  Reformation 

The  weakness  of  the  movement  consisted  in  the 
fact  that  it  became  chiefly  a  political  revolution. 
This  is  plain  when  we  consider:  (i)  The  eager- 
ness of  the  princes  in  seizing  this  opportunity  of 


62  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

becoming  still  more  independent,  both  of  pope  and 
emperor.  The  ultimate  result  was  not  only  the 
serious  limitation  of  the  papal  power,  but  the  virtual 
destruction  of  the  imperial  power.  (2)  The  im- 
possibility of  crediting  them  with  any  but  selfish  mo- 
tives in  this  rebellion.  Neither  the  interests  of  true 
religion,  nor  the  good  of  Germany,  can  reasonably 
be  supposed  to  have  been  their  controlling  motive. 
Increase  of  their  own  power  and  wealth  was  the 
all-sufficient  inducement  that  determined  their  ac- 
tion. (3)  The  quickness  with  which  they  embraced 
the  tempting  opportunity  offered  by  the  Reforma- 
tion to  enrich  themselves  by  confiscating  much 
property  hitherto  belonging  to  the  Church,  and  by 
assuming  the  administration  of  the  rest.  (4)  The 
readiness  they  showed  to  increase  their  power  by 
assuming,  with  the  consent  of  the  Reformers,  su- 
preme ecclesiastical  authority  in  their  domains.  (5) 
The  territorial  system  growing  out  of  these  facts, 
with  its  organized  intolerance  on  the  part  of  Lu- 
therans, and  their  bitter  persecution  of  all  who  did 
not  accept  their  doctrine  and  practice. 

It  is  impossible  therefore  to  look  upon  the  Refor- 
mation in  Germany  with  unqualified  approval  or 
blame.  The  movement  had  a  strangely  mixed 
character,  and  it  is  no  easy  thing  on  the  whole  to 
decide  whether  good  or  evil  predominated.  Its 
moral  and  religious  results  were  certainly  not  what 
might  have  been  expected,  not  what  were  expected. 
The  later  writings  of  the  Reformers  are  filled  with 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      63 

complaints  about  the  bad  morals  of  the  people. 
Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  exaggeration  in 
these  complaints,  but  there  is  good  reason  to  con- 
clude that  little  immediate  change  for  the  better 
was  made  in  the  German  people  by  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  people  had  ceased  to  be  Romanists  with- 
out becoming  Christians. 

The  political  results  of  the  revolution  were  no 
more  favorable.  The  power  of  the  princes  was 
greatly  augmented  at  the  expense  of  the  pope,  the 
emperor,  the  nobiHty,  and  the  people.  For  a  limited 
monarchy  there  was  substituted  an  oligarchy  with 
very  slight  limitations;  and  history  testifies  clearly 
that  of  all  forms  of  government  known  to  man  an 
oligarchy  is  the  worst.  The  people,  outside  of  the 
free  cities,  found  themselves  enjoying  less  liberty 
than  before,  and  had  to  wait  for  the  great  Revolu- 
tion for  their  enfranchisement. 

Bibliography 

The  books  cited  for  the  previous  chapter  mostly 
cover  the  subjects  of  this.  In  addition,  Bax's  Peas- 
ants' War  in  Germany  (Macmillan,  $2)  is  valuable. 
For  study  of  the  Lutheran  creeds,  Schaff's  Creeds 
of  Christendom,  esp.  Vol.  Ill,  on  the  "  Evangelical 
Creeds,"  is  sufficient  for  most  students ;  but  one 
who  wishes  to  study  the  subject  more  thoroughly 
should  not  fail  to  have  Jacob's  Book  of  Concord 
(2  vols.,  Philadelphia,  1893),  which  not  only  gives 
the  complete  text   in   English,  but   invaluable   re- 


64  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

prints  of  sources,  with  historical  introductions,  etc. 
KostHn's  Theology  of  Luther  (2  vols.,  Luth.  Pub. 
S.,  $4.50)  will  furnish  additional  material  of  the 
first  value. 

The  Quiz 

How  did  the  princes  treat  the  Worms  decree? 
What  was  Luther's  idea  of  the  use  of  the  sword? 
How  did  he  regard  the  uprising  of  the  peasants? 
What  was  the  result  of  that  struggle  ?  What  change 
now  occurred  in  the  views  of  Luther?  What  did 
the  Diet  of  Speyer  decide  in  1526?  How  did  the 
princes  interpret  this?  What  progress  did  the 
Reformation  make?  How  had  the  emperor's  atti- 
tude changed  by  1529?  What  was  the  protest  at 
Speyer?  Who  signed  it?  What  does  "  Protestant  " 
mean  now?  Why  did  Luther  oppose  union  among 
the  Protestants?  Was  his  reason  valid?  Do  you 
think  he  made  a  serious  mistake?  If  so,  why? 
What  led  to  the  Marburg  colloquy?  What  was  its 
object?  What  did  Zwingli  hold  about  the  euchar- 
ist?  How  did  that  differ  from  Luther's  teaching? 
How  did  both  differ  from  the  Catholic  doctrine? 
What  was  the  result  of  the  Marburg  discussion? 
What  relation  did  the  princes  assume  to  the  church  ? 
Did  Luther  approve  this?  Can  we  properly  speak 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Germany?  How  does 
the  sovereign  rule  the  church?  What  changes 
were  made  in  the  worship?  How  many  sacraments 
were  recognized?     How  did  Luther  promote  these 


Completion  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation      65 

reforms?  What  was  the  political  status  of  Charles 
V,  in  1530?  Was  his  power  as  great  as  it  appeared? 
Why  did  he  not  compel  the  German  princes  to  sub- 
mit? Who  wrote  the  Augsburg  Confession?  De- 
scribe it.  What  action  did  the  Diet  take  ?  What  did 
the  Protestants  do?  The  Catholics?  What  did  this 
mean?  What  is  your  opinion  of  Luther's  character? 
Was  he  a  great  man?  Was  he  a  good  man?  What 
was  his  influence?  How  did  the  Smalcald  war 
result?  What  were  the  Interims?  What  did  Me- 
\a.nchthon  me2in  by  adiaphora?  Did  the  Lutherans 
follow  his  advice  ?  What  was  the  policy  of  Maurice 
of  Saxony?  Why  was  peace  made?  What  did  the 
peace  provide?  What  was  the  "  ecclesiastical  reser- 
vation"? Was  the  peace  a  success?  How  far  had 
the  Reformation  progressed  in  1555?  Did  it  hold 
the  ground  thus  won?  What  may  be  called  the 
bright  side  of  the  Reformation?  What  the 
"  seamy "  side  ?  Was  it  a  good  thing  or  a  bad 
for  Germany? 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   ZWINGLIAN    REFORMATION 

41.  Switzerland  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation,  Switzer- 
land was  a  confederation  of  thirteen  cantons.  A 
league  of  three  cantons,  begun  in  1291,  had  been 
joined  by  others,  and  together  they  had  won  and 
kept  their  liberty.  The  constitution  was  very  simple : 
the  sole  bond  of  union  was  the  Diet,  which  usually 
met  once  a  year,  each  canton  having  one  vote. 
There  was  no  central  government,  no  executive, 
no  court  to  enforce  the  decisions  of  the  Diet.  Only 
the  pressure  of  necessity,  the  need  of  defense  against 
a  common  foe,  had  held  together  a  confederation 
so  loosely  organized.  Each  canton  was  independent 
and  had  its  own  constitution.  Several  cantons  were 
dominated  by  a  large  city,  and  the  government  was 
more  or  less  aristocratic ;  a  purely  democratic  polity 
marked  the  country  cantons.  Zurich  may  be  taken 
as  a  type  of  the  former.  Its  government  was 
founded  on  the  guilds,  formed  into  thirteen  cor- 
porations, each  with  its  guildmaster.  These  guild- 
masters,  together  with  an  equal  number  of  repre- 
sentatives of  the  nobility  and  wealthy  burghers, 
constituted  the  small  council ;  and  from  their 
66 


The  Zwinglian  Reformation  67 

number  was  chosen  the  burgomaster,  or  mayor, 
who  was  the  chief  magistrate.  There  was  a  large 
council  of  two  hundred  members,  that  was  the 
legislative  body.  In  the  country  cantons  there  was 
an  annual  assembly  of  all  the  citizens,  at  which  a 
chief  magistrate  was  elected,  called  the  landaman, 
and  laws  were  enacted.  Though  a  nominal  member 
of  the  empire,  Switzerland  had  been  released  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  imperial  court,  and  was 
therefore  virtually  independent. 

42.  Early  Years  of  Zwingli 

Huldreich  Zwingli  was  born  in  Wildhaus,  a  little 
village  of  the  canton  of  St.  Gall,  January  i,  1484. 
His  father  was  a  shepherd,  but  a  leading  man  of  his 
village,  and  gave  his  son  a  good  education,  sending 
him  to  the  University  of  Vienna  in  1499.  He  be- 
came teacher  of  languages  in  the  school  of  St.  Mar- 
tin, Basel,  and  was  the  pupil  in  the  university  of 
Thomas  Wittenbach,  who  taught  him  to  study  the 
Scriptures.  In  1506  he  was  chosen  pastor  at  Glarus, 
where  he  founded  a  Latin  school,  and  won  a  reputa- 
tion as  a  hard-working  priest  and  eloquent  preacher. 
The  publication  of  the  Greek  Testament  by  Erasmus 
led  him  to  undertake  the  study  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  a  new  spirit  and  brought  about  his  conver- 
sion. He  served  as  chaplain  to  Swiss  regiments  in 
several  of  their  campaigns  in  Italy,  and  his  experi- 
ence led  him  to  oppose  the  mercenary  system,  which 
was  profitable  to  a  poor  country  like  Switzerland, 


68  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

but  demoralizing.  In  1516  he  was  called  to  Einsie- 
deln,  where  there  was  a  large  library,  in  which  he 
continued  his  studies.  During  these  years  his  life 
was  no  cleaner  than  that  of  the  average  priest  of  the 
age,  but  his  repute  for  learning  and  eloquence  so 
increased  that  he  was  chosen,  in  15 18,  to  be  chief 
preacher  at  Zurich. 

43.  Beginning  of  the  Reformation 

The  reform  at  Zurich  was  quite  independent  of 
that  in  Germany,  and  its  occasion  was  quite  differ- 
ent. Zwingli  began  his  ministry  by  a  series  of  daily 
expositions  of  the  Scriptures.  After  four  years  of 
this  preaching,  Zurich  had  become  evangelical,  with- 
out knowing  that  it  had  departed  from  Romanism. 
It  was  not  the  question  of  indulgences  that  brought 
about  a  breach;  for,  though  a  monk  named  Samson 
had  been  quite  as  obnoxious  as  Tetzel,  he  was  ex- 
pelled from  the  country  with  very  little  commotion. 
The  people  of  Zurich  had  come  to  perceive  that  the 
entire  system  of  the  Roman  Church  was  unscrip- 
tural,  especially  its  fasts  and  feasts,  the  compulsory 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  and  auricular  confession. 
They  began  to  demand  the  abolition  of  these  abuses, 
and  many  of  them  refused  longer  to  observe  the 
fasts.  The  town  council  therefore  appointed  a  pub- 
lic disputation  in  January,  1523,  at  which  these 
matters  should  be  discussed  from  the  Scriptures; 
and  as  a  result  of  the  discussion  ordered  all  priests 
to  preach  nothing  but  what  could  be  proved  from 


The  ZzvingUan  Reformation  69 

Scripture.  This  very  moderate  step  in  the  direction 
of  reform  did  not  satisfy  the  people.  Priests  began 
to  marry;  monks  and  nuns  left  their  cloisters; 
images  were  forcibly  removed  from  the  churches. 
Another  disputation  was  held,  and  the  council  de- 
cided that  the  images  were  not  to  be  removed,  and 
that  each  priest  might  do  as  he  pleased  about  say- 
ing mass. 

44.  Completion  of  the  Reform  at  Zurich 

It  was  not  until  1524  that  reform  was  undertaken 
in  real  earnest.  The  people  demanded  it  with  such 
insistence  that  the  council  could  no  longer  delay. 
A  commission  was  appointed  which  removed  from 
the  churches  all  images,  relics,  etc.,  going  to  the 
extreme  of  whitewashing  the  walls,  so  as  to  remove 
all  traces  of  idolatry.  The  chalices,  crucifixes,  and 
other  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver  were  melted, 
and  from  the  proceeds  of  this  confiscation  a  theo- 
logical college  was  founded.  Zwingli  deplored  this 
wholesale  destruction  of  valuable  works  of  art, 
though  he  approved  their  removal  from  the 
churches;  he  would  have  had  them  preserved  in  a 
museum.  The  abolition  of  the  mass  naturally  ac- 
companied this  removal  of  images.  A  service  in 
the  vernacular  was  prepared  by  Zwingli,  and  the 
Communion  was  administered  after  the  Reformed 
rite  in  the  Great  Minster,  on  Maundy  Thursday, 
1525.  All  the  services  of  the  church  were  simpli- 
fied, prayer  being  made  mostly  extemporaneous,  and 


70  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

the  exposition  of  Scripture  being  exalted  to  the  chief 
place.  The  Christian  year  was  also  virtually  abol- 
ished, only  the  four  chief  festivals  being  observed. 

As  the  Reformation  was  undertaken  by  the  coun- 
cil, that  body  continued  to  direct  the  affairs  of 
the  church.  This  connection  of  Church  and  State 
was  regarded  as  a  necessity  of  the  situation  by 
Zwingli;  and  perhaps  he  was  right,  if  success  is 
more  important  than  to  teach  and  practise  the  truth. 
There  had  been  since  Constantine  no  example  of 
an  independent  and  self-supporting  church,  and  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  men  were  slow  to  believe  such 
a  church  practicable.  For  internal  discipline  Zwin- 
gli organized  a  synod,  composed  of  all  the  ministers 
of  the  canton  and  two  lay  delegates  from  each 
parish,  which  undertook  to  enforce  a  strict  moral 
accountability  on  all  communicants.  Zwingli  did 
not  live  to  work  out  his  system  fully,  but  it  was 
essentially  like  that  established  later  at  Geneva  by 
Calvin,  and  known  to-day  as  Presbyterianism. 

45.  Reform  in  the  Other  Cantons 

The  spirit  of  reform  spread  to  many  of  the  other 
cantons,  and  by  degrees  St.  Gall,  Bern,  Basel,  and 
Glarus  openly  adopted  the  Reformed  doctrine  and 
worship.  Zwingli's  friend  QEcolampadius  became 
the  leader  at  Basel,  where  the  Reformation  made 
rapid  progress  from  1527  onward.  At  Bern,  Ber- 
thold  Haller  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  reform; 
he  secured  the  holding  of  a  disputation  in  1528,  at 


The  Zwinglian  Reformation  71 

which  ZwingU  was  present,  and  as  a  result  the  Ref- 
ormation was  firmly  established  in  the  city  and 
spread  throughout  the  canton.  Schaffhausen,  Frei- 
burg, and  Appenzell  followed  in  the  same  way.  It 
seemed  at  one  time  that  all  Switzerland  might  be 
won  to  the  new  faith. 

46.  The  Forest  Cantons 

By  1530  only  five  cantons  remained  unmistakably 
Catholic:  Uri,  Schwytz,  Unterwalden,  Luzern,  and 
Zug.  These  were  the  oldest  members  of  the  confed- 
eration, the  original  league  having  been  formed  by 
the  three  first  named.  They  are  commonly  called  the 
"  forest  "  cantons,  there  being  no  large  towns  in 
them.  Owing  to  their  extremely  rural  character, 
they  were  the  most  conservative  of  the  cantons,  both 
in  politics  and  in  religion.  Their  opposition  to  Zwin- 
gli  and  the  course  of  affairs  at  Zurich  was  as  much 
political  as  religious.  They  disliked  the  Reformation 
because  it  was  a  novelty;  they  had  been  set  against 
Zwingli,  even  before  he  began  his  reforms,  by  his  at- 
titude toward  the  mercenary  system,  to  which  they 
were  strongly  attached,  and  which  Zwingli  had  at- 
tacked with  more  zeal  than  discretion.  They  accused 
Zwingli  of  wanton  slander  of  them,  of  seditious 
speeches,  and  called  on  Zurich  to  banish  this  dis- 
turber of  the  peace,  failing  which  they  would  be 
compelled  to  appear  before  the  people  of  the  baH- 
wicks  and  make  known  their  injuries.  This  was 
an  attempt  to  isolate  Zurich  and  so  compel  her  to 


y2  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

yield.  Instead  she  sought  an  alliance  with  Con- 
stance and  Bern,  under  the  title  of  the  Christian 
Citizens'  League.  The  five  cantons  were  not  un- 
naturally provoked  into  seeking  an  alliance,  and 
they  made  the  great  mistake  of  concluding  one  with 
their  natural  enemy,  Austria,  which  gladly  seized 
the  opportunity  to  divide  and  weaken  the  confeder- 
ation. 

47.  Civil  War  and  Death  of  Zwingli 

Only  one  issue  could  come  from  a  policy  like 
this,  and  it  was  precipitated  by  the  action  of  Zurich 
and  Bern  in  forbidding  supplies  for  the  five  cantons 
to  be  carried  through  their  territory,  thus  virtually 
cutting  them  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  When 
the  rival  forces  faced  each  other  the  first  time,  the 
soldiers  fraternized  and  ate  their  supper  of  bread 
and  milk  together.  The  leaders  came  to  an  agree- 
ment and  a  peace  was  patched  up,  but  such  patch- 
work seldom  lasts  long.  Another  conflict  broke 
out,  and  a  sudden  invasion  of  the  canton  of  Zurich 
found  her  unprepared  and  without  aid  from  her 
allies.  At  the  battle  of  Cappel,  October  11,  1531, 
the  Zurich  forces  suffered  a  disastrous  defeat,  and 
Zwingli  was  killed.  A  treaty  of  peace  was  now 
made,  by  which  the  cantons  agreed  to  leave  each 
other  at  liberty  regarding  the  religious  faith  of  each, 
and  to  abstain  from  foreign  alliances.  A  Catholic 
reaction  followed,  in  which  for  a  time  the  propor- 
tions of  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  cantons  were 


The  Zwinglian  Reformation  73 

reversed,  only  four  remaining  distinctly  Protestant: 
Zurich,  Bern,  Basel,  Schaffhausen.  Of  the  rest, 
five  were  equally  divided,  or  nearly  so,  between  the 
two  faiths,  while  seven  became  fully  Catholic.  At 
the  present  time,  in  a  population  of  over  three  mil- 
lions, Protestants  have  a  majority  of  half  a  million. 

48.  Zwingli*s  Successors 

(Ecolampadius  did  not  long  survive  his  friend, 
Zwingli,  for  he  died  November  21,  1531.  This 
seemed  at  first  to  leave  the  Swiss  Reformation  with- 
out leaders,  but  two  men  were  speedily  found  to  con- 
tinue the  work.  Zwingli  meets  the  severest  test  of 
greatness ;  he  had  brought  forward  young  men  fully 
capable  of  taking  his  place  and  carrying  on  what 
he  had  well  begun. 

Henry  Bullinger,  born  at  Bremgarten,  Aargau, 
July  18,  1504,  after  the  ordinary  schooling  of  his 
time  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Cologne  by  his 
father,  dean  of  Bremgarten.  Here  he  was  led  to  the 
study  of  the  Fathers,  especially  Augustine  and 
Chrysostom,  and  from  them  to  the  Scriptures.  He 
became  attached  to  Zwingli  in  the  early  years  of  the 
reform,  in  1522  became  a  teacher  at  Cappel,  and  in 
1529  was  called  to  be  pastor  in  his  native  town, 
which  had  adopted  the  Reformed  religion.  The 
same  year  he  married.  After  the  death  of  Zwingli 
the  Catholic  reaction  forced  him  to  leave  Brem- 
garten, and  he  naturally  sought  refuge  at  Zurich. 
Here  everything  was  in  confusion,  and  a  reactionary 


74  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

party  was  noisily  proclaiming  that  all  the  calamities 
of  the  city  were  the  fitting  result  of  listening  to  the 
preachers.  Bullinger  was  not  afraid  to  appear  in 
the  pulpit  and  speak  encouragingly  to  the  disheart- 
ened evangelicals.  The  result  was  that  he  was 
chosen  Zwingli's  successor  as  chief  preacher,  but 
with  the  provision  that  he  was  to  "  proclaim  the 
word  of  God  in  a  virtuous,  friendly,  and  Christian 
manner,"  and  let  politics  alone.  This  he  did  not 
altogether  do,  however,  for  without  hesitation  he 
rebuked  the  council  when  it  appeared  likely  to  con- 
cede too  much  to  the  Catholics;  and  to  his  firmness 
and  courage  was  probably  due  the  saving  of  the 
Reformation  in  Zurich. 

Oswald  Geisshiisler,  better  known  as  Myconius, 
was  born  at  Luzern  in  1488,  and  was  four  years 
Zwingli's  junior.  He  was  the  son  of  a  miller,  and 
little  is  known  of  his  early  life.  He  matriculated 
at  the  University  of  Basel  in  1510,  and  while  there 
formed  a  lifelong  friendship  with  Zwingli.  In  15 16 
he  was  called  to  be  a  teacher  in  a  school  at  Zurich, 
and  while  in  that  position  he  was  the  main  factor  in 
procuring  the  election  of  his  friend  as  chief  preacher 
of  the  city.  For  a  time  he  held  a  like  position  in  the 
schools  at  Luzern,  but  when  the  Reformation  failed 
in  that  canton  he  went  to  Basel.  Here  he  became 
professor  of  theology  in  the  university  in  1531, 
and  was  besides  chosen  to  a  position  like  that  held 
by  Zwingli  at  Zurich.  Though  he  did  an  important 
work  as  an  educator,  especially  in  reforming  the 


The  Zwinglian  Reformation  75 

Swiss  schools,  his  great  achievement  was  his  co- 
operation with  BulHnger  in  consoHdating  the  Swiss 
churches  and  maintaining  the  results  of  the  Zwin- 
glian reform.  His  chief  writing  is  a  biography  of 
Zwingli.     He  died  at  Basel,  October  14,  1552. 

Bibliography 

The  general  histories  of  the  Reformation  already 
named  contain  an  account  of  the  work  of  Zwins^li 
and  his  coadjutors  in  Switzerland.  In  addition, 
McCracken's  Rise  of  the  Swiss  Republic  gives  help- 
ful material,  including  the  text  of  the  original  league 
and  the  political  history  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  biography  of  Zwingli,  by  Jackson,  in  the 
Heroes  of  the  Reformation,  is  exceptionally  valu- 
able, and  his  Selected  Works  of  Zzvingli  (U.  of 
Pa.,  $1)  should  by  all  means  be  carefully  read. 
Simpson's  Life  of  Ulric  Zwingli  (Baker  &  Taylor 
Co.,  $1.50)  is  also  a  useful  book.  The  final  volume 
of  Schaff's  Church  History  is  devoted  to  the  Refor- 
mation in  Switzerland,  and  contains  a  large  amount 
of  welcome  information  (Scribners,  $4). 

The  Quiz 

What  sort  of  government  had  Switzerland  in  the 
sixteenth  century?  Was  this  favorable  to  reform 
or  otherwise?  Describe  the  government  of  Zurich. 
Of  the  country  or  "  forest  "  cantons.  What  was  the 
relation  of  Switzerland  to  the  empire?  Could  the 
emperor  interfere  in  its  affairs  ?    Give  an  account  of 


76  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Zwingli's  early  life.  What  led  to  his  conversion? 
How  came  he  to  know  so  much  about  the  mercenary 
system?  Why  did  he  oppose  it?  What  was  his 
character?  His  reputation?  How  did  the  reform 
at  Zurich  begin?  Did  the  question  of  indulgences 
cause  the  trouble,  as  in  Germany?  What  was  the 
first  issue  between  the  people  and  the  Church  ?  What 
did  the  council  do?  Was  the  council  in  advance  of 
the  people  or  behind  them?  When  did  serious 
reformation  begin?  What  was  done?  How  far 
did  Zwingli  approve?  How  were  the  services  al- 
tered? Why  did  the  council  undertake  these  re- 
forms ?  Was  Zwingli  right  in  deferring  to  the  coun- 
cil? How  did  he  propose  to  secure  discipline? 
What  other  cantons  were  affected  by  the  reform? 
Why  did  the  "  forest "  cantons  oppose  reform  ? 
Why  did  they  so  hate  Zwingli  ?  What  resulted  from 
this  division  of  the  cantons?  How  and  where  did 
Zwingli  die?  What  result  followed  the  battle  of 
Cappel  ?  What  is  the  religious  condition  of  Switzer- 
land now  ?  Who  was  Zwingli's  successor  at  Zurich  ? 
Who  carried  on  the  work  at  Basel? 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    CALVINISTIC    REFORMATION 

49.  French  Switzerland 

The  movement  toward  reform  led  by  Zwingli 
was  confined  to  the  German  cantons  of  Switzerland. 
The  cantons  in  the  West  were  largely  peopled  by 
French ;  and  Vaud,  Neuchatel,  and  Geneva  were 
almost  wholly  French  in  blood  and  language.  These 
cantons  were  encouraged  by  the  example  of  their 
German  neighbors  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  their 
feudal  lords  and  strive  for  their  independence. 
Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  this  attempt  had 
been  so  far  successful  that  they  were  practically 
independent,  and  though  not  actual  members  of  the 
Swiss  league  were  under  its  protection.  It  was  the 
revolt  of  Geneva  against  the  authority  of  its  prince- 
bishop  that  led  to  the  beginning  of  reform. 

50.  Reform  in  Geneva 

In  the  early  stages  of  this  reform  the  principal 
figure  was  William  Farel,  born  in  1489,  of  a  noble 
family  of  Dauphiny.  He  was  educated  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  where  he  came  under  the  influence 
of  Lefevre,  an  ardent  student  of  the  Scriptures,  who 
taught  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.   About 

77 


78  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

1 5 12  Farel  accepted  the  evangelical  doctrines,  and 
became  a  zealous  preacher  of  the  truth.  He  was  a 
man  of  fiery  temperament,  often  called  "  the  Elijah 
of  the  Reformation,"  an  iconoclast  rather  than  a 
reformer,  with  a  genius  for  destruction,  but  little 
constructive  power.  He  knew  his  limitations,  how- 
ever, and  having  done  his  work  he  was  ready,  with 
rare  unselfishness,  to  stand  aside  and  let  a  better 
man  do  what  he  was  unable  to  accomplish.  He  led 
the  Genevans  in  their  successful  revolt,  inspired 
them  to  reject  the  Roman  usages  and  doctrines, 
introduced  an  evangelical  service  in  1534,  arranged 
a  disputation  the  following  year,  in  which  the 
Catholics  were  overwhelmingly  defeated,  and  se- 
cured a  successor  who  had  the  qualities  of  leadership 
and  the  genius  for  construction  that  he  lacked. 
Then  he  cheerfully  took  second  place,  where  he  had 
been  and  might  have  remained  first.  All  honor  to 
William  Farel. 

51.  The  New  Leader 

John  Calvin  was  born  in  Picardy,  in  the  town  of 
Noyon,  in  1509.  His  father  was  a  notary  and 
steward  of  an  estate,  and  procured  for  his  son 
benefices  in  the  Church,  whose  income  provided  for 
his  education.  This,  though  one  of  the  great  abuses 
of  the  Church,  was  too  common  to  be  noticed,  much 
less  condemned.  Calvin  was  educated  at  the  uni- 
versities of  Orleans  and  Paris,  with  the  intention  of 
making  law  his  profession,  but  theology  was  more 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  79 

attractive.  What  led  him  to  embrace  the  evangeHcal 
doctrine  we  do  not  know,  he  himself  only  saying  in 
later  years  that  God  had  saved  him  from  his  errors 
by  a  "  sudden  conversion."  The  time  was  probably 
the  latter  part  of  the  year  1532.  He  was  compelled 
to  leave  Paris,  and  for  some  years  led  a  roving  life, 
but  found  time  to  compose  and  print  the  first  edi- 
tion of  his  "  Institutes,"  which  appeared  at  Basel 
in  1536.  Though  this  first  edition  differed  greatly 
from  the  work  with  which  we  are  acquainted,  it 
was  the  most  remarkable  theological  treatise  ever 
published  by  a  young  man  of  twenty-seven,  and 
speedily  gave  him  a  European  reputation.  The 
later  editions  are  only  an  elaboration  of  the  doctrines 
now  set  forth,  and  from  the  first  the  author  took 
rank  among  the  great  theologians  of  the  church.  It 
was  while  merely  passing  through  Geneva  on  his 
way  to  Basel,  late  in  July,  1536,  with  the  intention 
of  only  remaining  over  night,  that  he  was  sought  out 
by  Farel,  and  with  great  reluctance  was  induced  to 
remain  and  take  charge  of  the  work  of  reform. 
Farel's  greatest  service  to  the  Reformation  was  that 
he  gave  Calvin  to  Geneva,  and  Geneva  to  Calvin. 

52.  The  Reformers  Banished 

Geneva  was  in  a  sad  moral  state;  its  population 
was  mixed,  and  the  liberty  that  the  town  had  gained 
was  degenerating  into  license.  Calvin  and  Farel 
at  once  set  about  securing  a  moral  reformation. 
They  drew  up  a  confession  and  catechism  for  the 


8o  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

instruction  of  the  people,  which  were  approved  by 
the  council,  and  the  citizens  were  then  summoned 
by  tens  to  make  oath  to  the  confession.  An  order 
of  banishment  was  passed  by  the  council  against  all 
who  refused  to  take  the  oath.  A  series  of  orders 
were  issued  against  gambling,  foolish  songs,  dese- 
cration of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  similar  offenses. 
These  reforms,  though  well  meant,  were  proceeding 
too  rapidly  for  public  sentiment,  which  by  no  means 
approved  this  mingling  of  civil  and  moral  offenses 
in  a  common  condemnation.  An  irreconcilable  dif- 
ference of  opinion  developed  between  the  reformers 
and  the  council  relating  to  church  discipline.  It 
seemed  plain  to  Calvin  and  Farel  that  the  church 
could  be  purified  only  by  a  rigorous  system  of  dis- 
cipline, to  be  exercised  by  the  spiritual  authorities 
independently  of  the  civil,  with  excommunication  as 
its  last  resort.  The  council  refused  its  assent  to  this 
system,  and  the  reformers  attempted  to  enforce  it 
against  the  will  of  the  council.  After  several 
stormy  scenes,  the  ministers  refused  to  administer 
the  sacrament,  at  Easter,  1538,  lest  it  be  profaned. 
On  April  23,  Calvin  and  Farel  were  deposed  by 
vote  of  the  council  and  given  three  days  to  leave 
the  city.  It  seemed  that  reform  at  Geneva  had 
ended  in  a  disastrous  failure. 

53.  Calvin  at  Strassburg 

Farel  went  to  Neuchatel,  where  he  had  previously 
labored,  became  its  principal  teacher  and  preacher, 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  8i 

and  there  spent  the  remaining  years  of  a  long  and 
useful  life.  Calvin  went  to  Strassburg,  where  he  be- 
came pastor  of  a  church  of  French  Protestant  refu- 
gees and  gave  lectures  on  divinity.  He  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  rewriting  and  enlarging  his 
"  Institutes,"  especially  adding  the  system  of  church 
discipline  that  has  ever  since  been  identified  with  his 
name.  In  1539  he  bought  a  membership  in  the  guild 
of  tailors,  by  which  he  became  a  citizen,  and  it  seems 
to  have  been  his  intention  to  end  his  days  here.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  here  he  began  a  friendship  with 
Melanchthon  which  endured  until  death  separated 
them.  These  two  reformers  had  much  in  common, 
and  as  time  passed  came  more  nearly  to  agreement 
on  points  about  which  at  first  they  had  differed, 
until  Calvin  was  charged  with  having  become  a 
Lutheran,  while  Melanchthon  was  called  a  Calvinist. 
In  May,  1541,  the  Geneva  council  repealed  the  de- 
cree of  banishment  and  besought  Calvin  to  return. 
With  not  a  little  difficulty,  he  was  persuaded  to 
comply  with  their  wishes,  and  was  brought  back 
to  the  city  with  all  honor. 

54.  Reform  Completed  at  Geneva 

Calvin  arrived  at  Geneva  September  13,  1541, 
and  never  again  left  the  city,  save  for  brief  inter- 
vals, dying  there  May  27,  1564.  Taught  by  former 
experience,  he  and  the  council  proceeded  with 
greater  moderation,  but  toward  the  same  end.  The 
city  of  Geneva  was,  outwardly  at  least,  completely 


82  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

renovated  and  revolutionized ;  from  being  one  of  the 
most  immoral  cities  in  Europe,  it  became  one  of  the 
most  quiet,  orderly,  and  externally  moral.  The 
character  that  Calvin  impressed  on  it  remains  but 
little  modified  to  this  day.  The  polity  established  in 
the  Genevan  church  was  presbyterial.  The  essential 
feature  of  the  system  was  the  association  of  lay 
elders  with  the  ministry  in  his  consistory  or  presby- 
tery, so  that  the  lay  members  were  in  a  majority. 
This  consistory  exercised  a  strict  discipline,  by 
spiritual  means  solely,  enforcing  their  authority  by 
reproof  and  exhortation,  and  in  the  last  resort  ex- 
communication. The  council  enforced  moral  and 
religious  duties  by  physical  pains  and  penalties.  A 
close  supervision  of  every  citizen's  Hfe  was  under- 
taken. Drunkards  and  gamblers  were  punished  by 
fines  and  the  pillory.  Reading  of  bad  books — and 
romances  were  classed  among  bad  books — was 
prohibited.  Men  were  banished  for  making  jesting 
remarks  to  the  disparagement  of  religion.  In  1555 
a  woman  was  publicly  scourged  for  singing  an 
ordinary  love-song  to  a  psalm  tune.  In  1558  a 
girl  of  eleven  years  was  beheaded  for  striking  her 
mother  in  a  moment  of  petulance.  Men  who  would 
not  receive  the  eucharist  were  banished.  Blasphemy 
and  witchcraft  were  capital  ofiFenses.  One  thing  can 
be  spoken  in  favor  of  this  severe  system:  it  was 
impartially  enforced — nobody  in  the  city  was  so 
high-born  or  influential  as  to  escape  punishment  if 
he  violated  the  laws. 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  83 

55.  The  Opposition  to  Calvin 

This  domination  of  the  city  was  not  obtained 
without  a  struggle,  and  several  times  another  revolu- 
tion seemed  imminent.  Calvin  triumphed  in  the 
end,  but  it  cannot  be  said  of  him  that  he  used  his 
victory  with  any  excess  of  generosity.  The  party 
opposed  to  him  were  known  as  Libertines.  Jacques 
Gruet,  their  principal  man,  was  condemned  and  be- 
headed on  the  charge  of  blasphemy,  but  his  real 
offense  appears  to  have  been  that  he  opposed  Calvin. 
A  still  more  famous  case  is  that  of  Michael  Servetus, 
who  had  been  an  opponent  of  Calvin  only  through 
his  writings.  In  these  he  had  criticized  and  ridiculed 
the  reformer,  and  had  also  rejected  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  and  published  other  opinions  then 
reckoned  heretical.  Escaping  during  a  trial  for 
heresy  at  Vienne,  Servetus  came  to  Geneva,  where 
he  was  recognized,  and  arrested  at  Calvin's  insti- 
gation. The  reformer  also  took  the  leading  part 
in  his  trial  and  procured  his  condemnation.  Ser- 
vetus was  burned  October  2y,  1553,  and  though 
Calvin  disapproved  the  method  of  execution  he 
wholly  approved  of  his  death,  in  which  he  was 
joined  by  all  the  other  reformers.  A  simple  granite 
block,  erected  November  i,  1903,  now  marks  the 
place  of  his  death,  on  the  hill  of  Champel. 

56.  Beginnings  of  Reform  in  France 

Reform  in  France  was  independent  in  its  origin, 
and  antedated  the  labors  of  Calvin,  but  was  power- 


84  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

fully  promoted  by  the  Reformation  in  French 
Switzerland,  and  at  length  was  quite  dominated 
by  the  ideas  of  Calvin.  At  his  accession,  Francis  I 
was  thought  to  be  at  least  not  unfavorable  to  the 
reformation  of  the  Church,  and  his  liberal  policy 
in  the  encouragement  of  art  and  letters  led  his 
Protestant  subjects  to  hope  that  he  would  in  the 
event  grant  them  at  least  toleration.  After  some 
wavering,  however,  the  king  allied  himself  with  the 
pope,  and  thenceforth  the  crown  of  France  was  on 
the  side  of  the  old  Church  and  its  abuses.  Never- 
theless, adherents  of  the  new  faith  increased  rapidly. 
A  Reformed  church  was  formed  in  Paris  in  Septem- 
ber, 1555,  and  in  the  same  year  congregations  were 
formed  in  Meaux,  Angers,  Poitiers,  La  Rochelle, 
Tours,  Orleans,  Rouen,  and  many  other  towns  in 
France.  In  1558  the  churches  ventured  to  hold  a 
synod  in  Paris,  and  they  then  adopted  a  Confession 
and  system  of  government,  both  modeled  on  the 
doctrine  and  practice  of  Geneva. 

57.  Growth  of  the  Huguenots 

The  French  Protestants  received  the  name  Ox 
Huguenots,  which  was  probably  a  corruption  of  the 
word  Eidgenossen,  or  Confederates,  commonly 
given  to  the  Swiss  Protestants.  Between  1540  and 
1560  their  growth  was  so  rapid  as  seriously  to  alarm 
the  government  and  the  Catholic  Church.  From 
one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the  nation  was  believed 
to  be  in  sympathy  with  them,  though  their  actual 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  85 

numbers  were  hardly  more  than  one-tenth  of  the 
population.  At  their  most  prosperous  period  prior 
to  the  accession  of  Henry  IV,  their  congregations 
were  estimated  by  themselves  at  two  thousand,  and 
their  communicants  at  four  hundred  thousand.  A 
large  number  of  the  nobility  became  Protestants, 
but  this  ultimately  proved  the  weakness  of  the 
French  Reformation  movement.  It  gave  too  much 
of  an  aristocratic  character  to  the  Reformed 
Church,  and  led  the  Huguenots  to  become  virtually 
a  political  party.  Nobles  became  Protestant  or  re- 
mained Catholic  too  often  because  they  were  for 
or  against  the  crown,  not  from  pure  considerations 
of  religion.  The  Huguenots  also  became  numerous 
among  the  artisans  and  merchants  of  the  cities,  but 
never  got  much  hold  of  the  common  people  in  the 
country  districts. 

58.  The  Religious  Wars 

At  the  Colloquy  of  Poissy  (1561)  an  attempt 
was  made  to  gain  toleration  for  the  Huguenots. 
Theodore  Beza,  who  later  became  Calvin's  suc- 
cessor at  Geneva,  made  a  masterly  presentation  of 
the  Protestant  case,  but  the  court  would  not  be  per- 
suaded. The  attempt  to  repress  the  Huguenots  by 
force  was  met  by  forcible  resistance,  and  civil  war 
broke  out,  which  continued  with  brief  intervals 
from  1562  to  1570.  We  need  not  follow  the  details 
of  this  conflict,  in  which  some  writers  distinguish 
three  distinct  wars  of  religion.     It  was  marked  by 


S6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

ferocity  on  both  sides,  one  of  the  Huguenot  histo- 
rians remarking  that  his  own  party  waged  the  first 
war  like  angels,  the  second  like  men,  the  third  like 
devils.  The  peace  of  St.  Germain,  concluded  in 
August,  1570,  gained  for  the  Huguenots  a  consider- 
able measure  of  toleration — they  were  allowed  to 
worship  without  molestation,  the  right  to  hold  office 
was  conceded  to  them,  and  four  strong  cities  of 
refuge  were  given  to  their  party,  including  La 
Rochelle. 

59.  The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 

The  king  of  France  was  now  Charles  IX,  a 
minor,  completely  dominated  by  his  mother,  Cath- 
erine de  Medici.  He  was  nevertheless  a  great  ad- 
mirer of  Admiral  Coligny,  the  leader  of  the  Hugue- 
nots. Catherine  seems  to  have  conspired  with  the 
Duke  de  Guise  to  have  Coligny  assassinated;  Co- 
ligny was  wounded,  but  not  killed,  and  her  com- 
plicity was  on  the  point  of  discovery  by  the  king, 
who  was  greatly  enraged  by  the  attack  on  the  ad- 
miral. To  save  herself  and  retain  her  hold  on  affairs 
of  State,  Catherine  had  recourse  to  a  desperate  ex- 
pedient— the  entire  destruction  of  the  Huguenots. 
A  marriage  had  been  arranged  between  the  daughter 
of  Catherine,  Margaret  of  Valois,  and  the  young 
Protestant  prince,  Henry  of  Navarre,  which  was  to 
cement  the  peace  between  the  two  parties,  and  a 
large  number  of  Huguenots  had  come  to  Paris  to  be 
present  at  the  marriage  festivities.     Catherine  per- 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  87 

suaded  the  weak-minded  king  that  the  Huguenots 
were  plotting  his  death  and  the  downfall  of  the 
Church,  and  persuaded  him  to  sign  an  edict  for  their 
extermination.  At  midnight  of  August  24,  1572, 
the  ringing  of  a  church  bell  gave  the  signal  for  a 
concerted  attack  on  the  Huguenots,  who  were  taken 
by  surprise  and  could  make  little  resistance.  Co- 
ligny  and  the  greater  part  of  his  followers  were 
slain,  and  the  rest,  including  Henry  of  Navarre, 
escaped  only  by  conforming  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
Word  was  sent  to  the  provinces  to  kill  all  Hugue- 
nots, but  warning  was  also  sent  them,  and  in  many 
cases  they  were  able  to  make  a  good  defense.  The 
entire  slaughter  is  estimated  at  from  twenty-six 
thousand  to  four  hundred  thousand  persons,  and  the 
later  historians  are  inclined  rather  to  the  smaller 
figures.  When  news  of  the  event  reached  Rome,  the 
pope  ordered  all  the  bells  to  be  rung,  celebrated  a 
high  mass,  and  had  a  medal  struck  in  honor  of  the 
event. 

60.  Henry  of  Navarre 

The  Huguenots  were  by  no  means  exterminated 
by  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  as  had  been 
hoped ;  they  were  not  even  cast  down,  but  roused  to 
anger  and  a  more  determined  resistance.  They 
soon  found  a  leader  in  Henry  of  Navarre,  born  in 
i553j  the  son  of  Antoine,  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and 
Jeanne,  Queen  of  Navarre.  He  was  bred  as  a  Cal- 
vinist,   and   by   the    death   of   his   mother   became 


88  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

king  of  Navarre  in  1572.  His  Protestantism  was 
probably  never  more  than  nominal;  while  on  the 
whole  inclined  toward  that  faith,  he  was  not  a 
religious  man  at  any  period  of  his  life.     In  July, 

1586,  civil  war  again  broke  out.  Henry  of  Na- 
varre defeated  the   Catholic  forces  at  Coutras  in 

1587,  the  first  decisive  Huguenot  victory  in  twenty- 
five  years  of  warfare.  Though  he  failed  to  gather 
all  the  fruits  of  his  victory,  Henry  advanced  slowly 
to  Paris,  and  there  Henry  HI,  who  had  succeeded 
Charles  IX,  became  reconciled  to  the  Protestant 
prince  and  sought  safety  in  his  camp.  The  assassina- 
tion of  the  king  by  a  fanatical  priest  made  Henry  of 
Navarre  the  legal  heir  to  the  throne.  The  Catholic 
League  that  had  been  formed  to  resist  his  claims  to 
the  crown,  suffered  a  decisive  defeat  at  Ivry  in 
1590,  but  Henry  IV  was  by  no  means  yet  king  of 
France.  The  great  obstacle  in  his  way  was  his 
Protestantism ;  for  it  was  evident  that  France  could 
never  be  united  under  a  Protestant  king  save  by 
the  extermination  of  the  Catholics.  After  long  hesi- 
tation, Henry  abjured  his  faith  once  more,  and  was 
formally  admitted  into  the  Roman  Church  July  25, 
1593.  By  the  Huguenots  this  abjuration  was  felt  to 
be  a  betrayal  of  their  cause ;  yet  politically  it  was  far 
from  this — on  the  contrary  it  was  the  salvation  of 
the  Huguenot  party  and  prolonged  its  life  for  a 
century.  The  results  of  his  action  immediately  ap- 
peared :  Paris  opened  its  gates  to  its  Catholic  king ; 
the  League  was  disarmed,  and  the  intrigues  of  the 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  89 

pope  and  the  king  of  Spain  were  brought  to  naught ; 
for  the  first  time  France  was  one  country,  and  loyal 
to  a  king  beloved  by  all  classes  save  a  few  bigoted 
Catholics.  The  pope's  formal  absolution,  September 
17,  1595,  reluctantly  recognized  an  accomplished 
fact,  when  longer  delay  had  become  impolitic. 

61.  The  Edict  of  Nantes 

In  his  coronation  oath  at  Chartres  (February 
27,  1594)  Henry  swore:  "Moreover,  I  shall  en- 
deavor according  to  my  ability,  in  good  faith,  to 
drive  from  my  jurisdiction  and  from  the  lands  sub- 
ject to  me  all  heretics  denounced  by  the  Church, 
promising  on  oath  to  keep  all  that  has  been  said. 
So  help  me  God,  and  these  holy  gospels  of  God." 
For  a  time  the  edicts  issued  by  the  king  were  in 
accord  with  this  oath ;  as  Meaux,  Orleans,  Bourges, 
and  other  rebellious  cities  opened  their  gates  to  him, 
he  formally  excluded  from  the  city  limits  all  re- 
ligious rites  except  those  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  No  Protestant  congregation  could  meet  at 
a  less  distance  than  ten  leagues  of  Paris.  In  July, 
1594,  by  permission  of  the  king,  the  Huguenots  held 
an  assembly  at  Dordogne,  and  set  forth  their  griev- 
ances; similar  assemblies  were  held  from  time  to 
time  during  the  next  five  years.  Henry's  policy 
was  wavering  during  this  period ;  doubtless  he  was 
beset  with  great  difficulties,  but  he  seemed  to  the 
Huguenots  to  be  playing  fast  and  loose  with  them; 
and  it  was  not  until  they  had  become  desperate  and 


go  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

were  on  the  verge  of  rebellion  that  he  finally,  April 
13,  1598,  signed  the  famous  Edict  of  Nantes. 

This  document  contains  ninety-two  articles,  with 
a  supplement  of  fifty-six  secret  articles,  a  "  brevet  " 
of  the  king,  and  a  further  supplement  of  twenty- 
three  more  secret  articles.  The  first  is  declared  to 
be  a  "  perpetual  and  irrevocable  edict."  It  conceded 
to  Protestants  the  right  to  dwell  anywhere  in  the 
royal  dominions,  without  molestation.  Perfect 
equality  of  worship  was  not  conceded,  but  Protes- 
tants were  given  greater  privileges  than  they  had 
ever  before  enjoyed.  Worship  was  expressly  author- 
ized in  residences  of  noblemen,  and  in  all  cities 
where  such  worship  had  been  held  up  to  August, 
1597;  and  a  second  city  in  every  bailiwick  of  the 
kingdom  was  added.  No  religious  test  was  to  be 
applied  at  schools,  universities,  hospitals,  or  in  relief 
of  the  poor,  and  Protestants  might  establish  schools 
of  their  own.  Cemeteries  were  provided  for  their 
dead;  all  public  offices  were  opened  to  them,  and  a 
chamber  of  Protestant  judges  was  established  in 
the  various  parliaments ;  forty-five  thousand  crowns 
were  appropriated  from  the  treasury  annually 
(really  for  support  of  clergy),  and  Protestants  were 
authorized  to  retain  certain  cities  in  their  possession. 
The  edict  must  be  pronounced  a  remarkable  ex- 
ample of  religious  toleration  for  this  period.  It 
would  have  been  fortunate  for  France  had  it  been 
loyally  observed ;  but  a  later  king  was  to  show  that 
the  edict  was  neither  perpetual  nor  irrevocable. 


The  Calvinistic  Reformation  9I 

Bibliography 

Besides  the  general  works  on  the  Reformation, 
there  is  quite  a  literature  of  the  Calvinistic  move- 
ment. The  biography  of  Calvin,  by  Walker,  in  the 
"  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  "  series,  is  a  scholarly 
and  candid  work.  Baird's  book  on  Theodore  Besa, 
in  the  same  series,  is  exceptionally  good.  The  same 
author's  Rise  of  the  Huguenots  (Scribners,  $5)  and 
The  Huguenots  and  Henry  of  Navarre  (ibid.,  $5) 
are  classics  among  American  historical  works.  Wil- 
lert's  Henry  of  Navarre,  in  the  "  Heroes  of  the  Na- 
tions "  series,  is  a  spirited  and  trustworthy  account 
of  a  most  romantic  career,  while  Bersigny's  Coligny, 
though  less  spirited,  is  a  valuable  biography. 
White's  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomezv  is  an  excellent 
monograph  on  a  much  controverted  subject  (Lon- 
don, 1868).  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion of  Calvin  has  all  the  merits  and  defects  of  his 
work  on  the  Lutheran  reform — it  is  learned  and 
brilliant  and  spiritually  stimulating,  but  very  partial 
and  one-sided. 

The  Quiz 

How  did  the  western  cantons  differ  from  the  rest 
of  Switzerland?  Who  led  the  reform  at  Geneva  in 
its  first  stage  ?  What  was  Farel's  character  ?  What 
did  he  accomplish?  Can  you  think  of  any  parallel 
to  his  unselfishness?  What  was  Calvin's  parentage 
and  early  life?  How  was  he  converted?  How  old 
was  he  when  he  published  his  "  Institutes  "  ?     Is 


92  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

there  any  similar  case?  How  came  he  to  settle  in 
Geneva?  What  did  Farel  and  Calvin  accomplish? 
Were  their  reforms  a  success?  Why  not?  What 
led  to  their  banishment?  What  became  of  Farel? 
Where  did  Calvin  go?  What  did  he  do?  Was  his 
friendship  with  Melanchthon  honorable  to  both? 
Why  did  Calvin  return  to  Geneva?  How  long  did 
his  labors  continue  there?  What  was  the  effect  on 
Geneva?  How  did  Calvin's  "consistory"  differ 
from  the  German?  Was  the  discipline  of  Geneva 
severe?  Was  it  impartial?  Did  Calvin  have  ene- 
mies? How  did  he  treat  them?  What  happened 
to  Gruet?  How  was  Servetus  treated?  Did  the 
other  reformers  approve  of  Calvin's  conduct  ?  How 
did  reform  begin  in  France  ?  What  was  the  attitude 
of  Francis  I  to  it?  How  successful  were  the  re- 
formed doctrines?  What  were  the  French  Protes- 
tants called?  What  does  the  name  mean?  How 
many  Huguenots  were  there?  What  was  their 
weakness?  What  was  the  Colloquy  of  Poissy? 
How  were  the  religious  wars  fought?  What  did 
the  peace  of  St.  Germain  concede?  How  did  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  occur?  How  many 
Protestants  were  slain?  Who  was  Henry  of  Na- 
varre? How  did  he  become  king?  Was  his  ab- 
juration justifiable?  How  did  he  treat  his  former 
Protestant  friends  ?  What  did  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
grant  to  Protestants? 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    FURTHER    PROGRESS    OF    CALVINISM 

62.  The  Netherlands 

In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Netherlands  included 
the  modern  States  of  Belgium  and  Holland.  One 
of  the  richest  and  most  progressive  countries  of 
Europe,  they  had  become  a  dependency  of  the  crown 
of  Spain,  but  had  a  constitution  of  their  own.  There 
was  an  assembly  of  the  estates,  without  whose  con- 
currence no  new  legislation  could  be  enacted,  and 
especially  no  new  taxation.  There  were  two  dis- 
tinct populations :  one  purely  Teutonic,  the  other 
having  affinities  with  the  French.  The  doctrines  of 
Luther  found  early  entrance  into  the  Netherlands, 
and  made  some  adherents  there,  but  Charles  V  en- 
forced the  Edict  of  Worms,  and  so  long  as  he 
reigned  the  new  heresy  made  little  progress. 

63.  Philip  II  and  the  Reformation 

In  1556,  Charles  abdicated,  and  was  succeeded  as 
king  of  Spain  by  Philip  II.  Charles  had  been  born 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  there  had  always  been  real 
sympathy  and  affection  between  the  people  and  him- 
self. Philip  was  a  stranger,  could  not  speak  their 
language,  neither  understood  nor  sympathized  with 
them,  and  was  inclined  to  arbitrary  power,  in  de- 

93 


94  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

fiance  of  the  ancient  constitution.  From  the  begin- 
ning he  pursued  a  poHcy  that  could  have  but  one 
final  result,  to  drive  the  people  into  revolt.  The  last 
intolerable  act  was  to  order  the  introduction  of  the 
hated  Spanish  Inquisition.  For  this  there  was  a 
justification  from  Philip's  point  of  view,  in  that 
the  doctrines  of  Calvin  were  now  making  great 
progress  in  the  Netherlands,  and  heresy  was  seri- 
ously threatening  the  supremacy  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  Spanish  Inquisition  was  especially 
hated,  because  it  had  been  made  in  Spain  an  instru- 
ment of  political  as  well  as  of  religious  despotism. 
It  was  feared  by  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  that 
Philip  intended  to  subvert  their  political  liberty 
under  the  guise  of  promoting  religious  orthodoxy. 
Some  of  the  more  powerful  nobles  opposed  Philip's 
policy,  but  were  not  prepared  for  actual  revolt. 
They  incurred  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  king  without 
doing  any  good  to  their  country.  As  soon  as  he  felt 
strong  enough,  Philip  sent  the  Duke  of  Alva  with 
an  army  to  enforce  his  will.  Counts  Egmont  and 
Horn,  the  two  most  prominent  nobles  in  the  op- 
position, were  treacherously  arrested,  condemned 
for  treason,  and  beheaded. 

64.  William  of  Orange 

It  had  become  evident  that  the  Netherlands  must 
oppose  armed  resistance  to  their  king,  or  be  re- 
duced to  a  condition  but  one  remove  from  slavery. 
The  leader  in  this  struggle  was  William  of  Orange, 


The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism  95 

the  greatest  of  the  nobles  of  the  land.  He  had  been 
brought  up  at  the  court  of  Charles  V,  and  was 
highly  esteemed  by  that  monarch  for  a  wisdom 
above  his  years.  Philip,  however,  distrusted  him, 
and  treated  him  with  cold  courtesy.  The  sym- 
pathies of  Orange  were  with  his  people  from  the 
first,  but  for  a  time  he  dissembled.  He  refused  to 
join  Egmont  and  Horn,  seeing  clearly  that  nothing 
would  be  accomplished  by  them.  When  the  final 
crisis  came,  in  1572,  and  the  people  must  make  a 
stand  for  liberty,  then  or  never,  he  came  forward 
and  was  accepted  as  the  leader  of  the  revolt.  He 
assumed  the  title  of  Stadtholter,  and  war  was  waged 
against  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  the  king's  name.  For 
years  this  legal  fiction  was  preserved,  the  people  be- 
ing unwilling  to  assume  the  character  of  rebels 
against  their  king.  Even  after  the  formation  of  the 
Union  of  Utrecht  in  1579,  by  which  the  provinces 
formally  united  for  mutual  defense,  and  chose  the 
prince  as  their  constitutional  ruler,  the  title  of 
Stadtholter  was  retained  and  the  pretext  of  loyalty 
was  maintained.  Not  until  1581  did  the  Nether- 
lands formally  declare  their  independence  of  Spain, 
though  it  had  long  been  an  accomplished  fact.  The 
success  of  the  Netherlands  in  their  struggle  for  free- 
dom was  mainly  due  to  the  sagacity,  courage,  and 
persistence  of  purpose  of  this  one  man.  He  was  the 
Washington  of  this  revolution,  and  to  his  per- 
sonal exertions  and  sacrifices  was  more  than  once 
due   the   continuance   of  the   struggle.      His   great 


g6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

wealth  was  lavished  upon  the  cause  he  had  em- 
braced; he  risked  everything  on  its  success;  and 
though  he  was  assassinated  before  his  work  was 
complete  (1584),  he  lived  to  see  his  country's  inde- 
pendence virtually  established. 

65.  The  Reformed  Church 

William  of  Orange  was  the  one  man  of  his  time 
who  knew  how  to  be  a  Christian  without  being  a 
bigot.  He  was  several  centuries  in  advance  of  his  age 
in  his  conception  of  freedom,  for  he  understood  by  it 
freedom  of  religion  as  well  as  freedom  in  civil  mat- 
ters. He  had  no  objection  to  a  State  Church,  or  to 
several  State  Churches,  which  is  only  to  say  that  he 
did  not  completely  emancipate  himself  from  the 
errors  of  his  day.  But  he  would  have  had  all  re- 
ligious bodies  treated  equally  by  the  State,  and 
especially  was  he  opposed  to  any  persecution  or  pro- 
scription of  men  on  account  of  religion.  He  used 
all  his  influence  to  promote  complete  toleration  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  with  such  success  that  since 
his  time  persecution  on  avowedly  religious  grounds 
has  been  unknown  there.  This  was  the  one  State 
in  Europe  that  tolerated  Anabaptists. 

The  first  general  assembly  of  the  churches  organ- 
ized in  the  Netherlands  was  held  at  Dordrecht  in 
1574,  and  a  presbyterial  constitution  with  a  Cal- 
vinistic  Confession  were  finally  adopted.  Each 
province  had  the  direction  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in 
its  own  limits,  and  this  led  to  some  diversities  of 


The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism  97 

practice,  but  there  was  a  general  type  of  doctrine 
common  to  all  branches  of  the  Dutch  Church. 

66.  Arminius  and  the  Synod  of  Port 

Arminius  (Jacob  Harmensen),  born  in  1560,  was 
educated  at  Leyden  and  Geneva,  and  became  pro- 
fessor at  Leyden  in  1603.  He  was  even  then 
suspected  of  heresy,  and  soon  came  into  violent 
collision  with  the  extreme  Calvinistic  party.  He  at- 
tempted to  modify  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  with  ref- 
erence to  predestination  and  the  freedom  of  the  will ; 
and  after  his  death  (1609)  his  followers  continued 
the  agitation.  The  differences  between  the  two  par- 
ties finally  became  crystallized  into  five  articles, 
known  as  the  "  five  points  "  of  Arminianism :  ( i ) 
God's  election  is  conditioned  on  the  foreseen  faith 
of  the  elect;  (2)  Christ  died  for  all,  yet  only  those 
who  believe  are  saved;  (3)  no  man  is  able  of  him- 
self to  believe;  (4)  salvation  is  all  of  grace,  but  the 
grace  is  not  irresistible;  (5)  believers  are  able  by 
the  aid  of  the  Spirit  to  resist  sin,  but  may  fall  from 
grace.  At  the  Synod  of  Dort,  held  1618-1619,  these 
points  were  condemned  (excepting  the  third,  which 
was  more  strictly  defined)  and  the  opposite  doctrine 
was  declared  to  be  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures. 
Persecution  of  the  Arminians  prevailed  for  a  time. 
Their  clergy  were  deposed  or  silenced,  and  some 
were  banished  or  fined.  It  was  attempted  to  take 
from  these  proceedings  the  character  of  religious 
persecution  by  charging  that  the  Arminian  ministers 

G 


98  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

were  disloyal  to  the  State,  but  this  was  too  evidently 
a  pretext  to  obtain  belief. 

67.  Progress  of  Calvinism  in  Germany 

Many  of  the  provinces  and  free  cities  in  which 
the  Lutheran  form  of  religion  at  first  prevailed 
afterward  adopted  the  Calvinistic  theology  and 
polity.  The  influence  of  Melanchthon  was  powerful 
in  promoting  this  change.  In  his  later  years  he  came 
practically  to  agree  with  Calvin  on  the  doctrines  of 
the  eucharist  and  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Elector 
Frederick  III,  of  the  Palatinate,  introduced  the 
Calvinistic  faith  as  the  official  religion  of  his  prov- 
ince, and  procured  the  composition  of  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  as  a  standard  of  faith  for  his  clergy. 
The  States  of  Nassau,  Bremen,  Anhalt,  and  Hesse 
also  became  more  or  less  consistently  Calvinistic. 
Most  important  of  all,  perhaps,  was  the  conversion 
to  this  faith  of  Elector  Sigismund,  of  Brandenburg. 
But  though  legally  entitled  to  introduce  his  own 
views  into  the  churches  by  royal  prerogative,  he 
made  a  voluntary  written  pledge  (February  5, 
161 5,),  not  to  force  on  any  community  a  preacher 
regarded  with  suspicion.  He  only  aimed  to  secure 
equal  rights  for  the  Reformed  side  by  side  with  the 
Lutherans — a  conspicuous  instance  of  moderation,, 
and  the  first  case  of  real  toleration  in  Germany.  On 
the  lower  Rhine  a  large  number  of  the  free  cities 
either  openly  adopted  Calvinism  or  tolerated  and 
favored   it.     Among   those   cities   may   be   named 


The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism  99 

Wesel,  Emden,  Cleves,  Jiilich,  and  Berg.  These 
constituted,  however,  not  a  national  or  provincial 
Church,  but  a  free  union  of  churches  whose  bond  was 
a  common  Confession,  at  first  the  Belgic,  afterward 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  While  Calvinism  was 
for  the  most  part  repudiated  as  a  party  name,  these 
churches  frequently  spoke  of  their  "  true,  really 
reformed  religion "  in  terms  that  implied  a  re- 
proach against  Lutheranism,  as  only  partially 
reformed,  until  Reformed  became  a  party  name, 
synonymous  with  Calvinistic.  The  changes  in  doc- 
trine were  accompanied  with  a  change  of  polity: 
government  by  presbytery  and  synod  took  the  place 
of  consistory  and  prince. 

68.  Beginnings  of  Reform  in  Scotland 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  no 
country  was  more  loyal  to  the  papacy  than  Scotland. 
Later,  there  was  scant  sympathy  with  the  policy  of 
Henry  VHI.  Yet  the  corruption  of  the  Roman 
Church  was  great,  and  it  was  a  constant  cause  of 
complaint  that  half  the  wealth  of  a  poor  country  was 
in  ecclesiastical  hands.  The  doctrines  of  Luther 
made  but  a  slight  impression  on  the  people.  Patrick 
Hamilton,  related  to  one  of  the  great  families  of 
Scotland,  was  educated  on  the  continent  and  em- 
braced the  reformed  doctrines.  He  had  preached 
but  a  short  time  when  he  was  apprehended  and 
burned  for  heresy,  in  1528.  George  Wishart,  a 
younger   man,    also   trained    abroad,    was   able   to 


100  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

preach  the  truth  less  than  three  years,  when  he  too 
was  burned,  in  1546.  Before  his  death,  however, 
he  had  made  many  converts,  including  one  who  was 
a  host  in  himself — ^John  Knox — and  had  thereby 
prepared  the  way  for  Scotland's  conversion. 

69.  John  Knox 

Of  the  first  forty  years  of  the  life  of  this  dis- 
tinguished man,  only  two  facts  are  certainly  known : 
he  was  a  student  for  a  time  in  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  where  he  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  a 
degree,  and  he  was  a  priest  and  notary  by  papal 
appointment,  in  1543.  All  beyond  this  is  conjecture. 
About  December,  1545,  he  came  in  contact  with 
Wishart,  and  this  was  the  turning-point  in  his  life. 
His  conversion  to  the  reformed  doctrines  followed, 
and  not  long  afterward  he  was  publicly  called  to  the 
ministry,  much  against  his  own  will.  Captured  by 
the  French,  at  the  siege  of  St.  Andrews,  he  was 
made  a  galley  slave  and  suffered  in  this  captivity 
nineteen  months,  when  he  was  released  at  the  inter- 
cession of  the  English  government.  Going  to  Eng- 
land, he  held  several  benefices  there,  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  revision  of  the  prayer  book  and  was 
offered  a  bishopric,  which  he  declined  from  con- 
scientious scruples.  On  the  accession  of  Mary,  he 
went  to  Geneva,  where  for  the  first  time  he  came  in 
contact  with  Calvin  and  was  powerfully  influenced 
by  the  great  theologian.  After  serving  as  minister 
of  Reformed  churches  at  Frankfurt,  Dieppe,  and 


The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism        loi 

other  continental  cities,  he  returned  to  Scotland  in 
1559,  never  again  to  leave  it. 

70.  Completion  of  the  Reformation 

The  movement  for  reform  in  Scotland  was  com- 
pHcated  by  a  political  contest  of  the  nobles  against 
the  crown.  Queen  Mary  remained  faithful  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  most  of  the  nobles  therefore 
became  Protestants.  The  reform  was  a  spoliation 
of  the  Church  by  the  nobles.  A  Confession  of  Faith, 
strongly  Calvinistic,  was  adopted  in  August,  1560, 
and  a  week  later  Parliament  adopted  three  acts  that 
quite  revolutionized  the  Church:  (i)  Abolishing 
the  pope's  jurisdiction;  (2)  Condemning  all  doc- 
trine and  practice  contrary  to  the  new  Confession; 
(3)  Forbidding  the  celebration  of  the  mass,  under 
penalty  of  confiscation  of  property  for  the  first  of- 
fense, exile  for  the  second,  and  death  for  the  third. 
The  *'  Book  of  Discipline,"  soon  after  adopted,  set- 
tled the  Church  on  the  presbyterial  system  in 
the  main,  though  bishops  were  still  retained  with 
the  title  of  superintendents.  In  1581  a  second 
"  Book  of  Discipline  "  was  enacted  that  was  strictly 
Presbyterian.  At  the  death  of  Knox,  in  1572,  the 
Reformation  was  not  legally  complete,  but  the  work 
had  been  effectually  done,  and  within  a  generation 
Romanism  almost  disappeared  from  the  Lowlands 
of  Scotland.  This  was  mainly  due  to  the  labors  of 
Knox.  The  impression  of  his  personality  was  left 
deeply  on  Scotland;  his  union  of  tenderness  and 


I02  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

strength,  of  humor  and  seriousness,  of  geniaHty  and 
severity,  of  manful  sympathies  and  godly  fervor, 
was  well  fitted  to  impress  a  nation.  Nor  did  his 
work  ever  need  to  be  done  over;  the  Scotch  re- 
mained from  his  day  obstinately  attached  to  their 
Calvinism  and  their  kirk. 

71.  Defects  in  the  Scotch  Reformation 

An  intolerance  was  shown  hardly  less  stern  than 
that  of  the  Catholics.  The  temporalities  were 
grossly  mismanaged.  The  nobles  saw  their  oppor- 
tunity, and  greedily  seized  the  property  and  revenues 
of  the  Church.  It  was  the  idea  of  the  originators  of 
the  Reformation  that  the  church  property  should 
be  devoted  to  three  objects :  the  sustentation  of  the 
ministry,  the  education  of  the  people,  and  the  relief 
of  the  poor.  The  lion's  share  of  the  property  was, 
however,  grasped  by  the  crown  and  nobles,  the  latter 
especially  being  the  gainers.  A  mere  pittance  was 
reluctantly  doled  out  to  the  ministry,  so  that  in  1590 
the  General  Assembly  complained  that  four  hundred 
parishes  were  destitute  of  pastors  because  no  sti- 
pends were  provided.  The  reformers  had  availed 
themselves  of  political  forces  to  advance  the  Refor- 
mation, and  the  Reformed  Church  was  compelled  to 
suffer  the  natural  consequences  of  such  an  alliance. 
Never  has  the  church  of  Christ  allied  itself  with  the 
secular  powers,  in  the  expectation  of  promoting  the 
cause  of  pure  religion,  that  it  has  not  found  itself 
in  the  end  duped  and  plundered.    That  kingdom  of 


The  Further  Progress  of  Calvinism        103 

God,  which  is  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,  is  not  to  be  promoted  by  the  sword. 

Bibliography 

The  great  works  of  Motley,  the  Dutch  Republic 
and  the  United  Netherlands,  are  a  storehouse  of  ma- 
terials relating  to  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  in 
that  country.  Blok's  History  of  the  Netherlands,  a 
more  recent  work  by  a  Dutch  author,  is  of  great 
value  (Eng.  Tr.,  4  vols.,  Putnams,  $2.50  ea.).  Miss 
Putnam's  William  the  Silent  (2  vols.,  Putnams, 
$3-75 )>  is  a  biography  of  the  first  class.  Lang's 
History  of  Scotland  (4  vols.,  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co., 
$3.50  ea.),  contains  a  study  of  the  Scotch  Reforma- 
tion from  a  critical,  not  to  say  hostile,  point  of  view. 
More  sympathetic  is  Cowan's  John  Knox,  in  the 
"  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  "  series,  and  Brown's 
biography  of  Knox  is  a  more  elaborate  work  of 
much  value  (2  vols.,  Edinburgh,  1896).  Knox's 
own  story  of  the  Reformation,  contained  in  the 
Edinburgh  edition  of  his  collected  works,  is  still  the 
best  account  of  that  great  struggle,  and  is  fortified 
with  most  of  the  original  documents  of  the  period. 
It  has  often  been  reprinted. 

The  Quiz 

What  is  meant  by  the  Netherlands?  What  was 
their  government?  What  kind  of  people  inhabited 
them?  How  did  the  Reformation  begin  there? 
What  was  the  policy  of  Philip  H?    Why  was  the 


I04  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Spanish  Inquisition  so  hated?  How  were  those 
who  opposed  Phihp  treated?  Who  became  the 
leader  in  the  revolt  ?  What  title  did  he  bear  ?  What 
did  the  Netherlands  profess?  When  did  they  de- 
clare their  independence  of  Spain?  What  was  the 
character  of  William  of  Orange?  Did  he  favor 
persecution?  How  was  the  Dutch  Church  organ- 
ized ?  Who  was  Arminius  ?  What  are  the  "  five 
points "  of  Arminianism  ?  How  many  of  these 
points  do  you  believe?  What  did  the  Synod  of 
Dort  hold  concerning  them?  What  was  done  to 
Arminians?  How  far  did  Calvinism  progress  in 
Germany?  What  is  the  Heidelberg  Catechism? 
What  German  prince  was  eminent  for  his  tolerant 
spirit?  How  did  the  free  cities  regard  Calvinism? 
What  does  Reformed,  with  a  capital  letter,  mean? 
How  was  Scotland  affected  toward  the  papacy  in 
the  sixteenth  century?  Did  the  doctrines  of  Luther 
make  much  impression  on  the  people?  Who  were 
the  earliest  Protestant  preachers?  What  do  we 
know  of  the  early  life  of  Knox?  How  was  he  con- 
verted? What  befell  him  for  some  years?  How 
did  he  come  to  know  Calvin?  Why  was  reform  so 
popular  in  Scotland?  What  was  accomplished  under 
Knox's  leadership?  What  is  your  idea  of  his  char- 
acter? In  what  respect  did  the  Scottish  Refor- 
mation fail  to  accomplish  its  objects?  Why  did  the 
reformers  fail? 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  ENGLISH  REFORMATION 

72.    England  in  1500 

At  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII,  England  was  a 
poor  country.  The  long  wars  with  France  had 
gradually  stripped  her  of  her  French  territory — a 
blessing  in  disguise — and  impoverished  king  and 
people.  The  Wars  of  the  Roses  had  completed  the 
impoverishment  of  the  nation,  and  not  all  of  Henry 
VII's  frugality  could  more  than  partially  repair  the 
loss.  England's  army  was  small  and  her  navy 
insignificant.  The  population  of  the  kingdom  is 
estimated  at  three  millions,  while  France  had  four- 
teen millions,  and  Charles  V  ruled  sixteen  million 
subjects.  London  was  a  city  of  ninety  thousand — a 
third-class  town  in  Europe  then,  since  Paris  had  four 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  Milan  and  Ghent  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  each,  while  Rome,  Ven- 
ice, Genoa,  and  Naples  were  all  larger  than  London. 
The  English  king's  annual  revenue  is  said  to  have 
been  £125,000,  while  Francis  I  had  £800,000  and 
Charles  V  £1,100,000.  Yet  with  these  greatly  in- 
ferior resources,  Henry  aspired  to  make  as  great  a 
figure  in  the  councils  of  Europe  as  either  of  his 
rivals.  That  he  measurably  succeeded  proves  his 
genius  for  statecraft  and  the  ability  of  his  ministers. 

105 


io6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

England  was,  however,  a  compact  nation,  with  a 
strong  central  government.  The  old  nobility  had 
perished  in  the  civil  wars,  and  the  new  nobles  were 
very  subservient  to  the  crown.  Through  control  of 
boroughs  in  the  royal  domains  and  in  the  estates  of 
great  nobles,  the  crown  was  able  to  manage  the 
House  of  Commons,  so  that  one  will  animated  min- 
isters and  parliaments,  and  that  will  was  Henry's. 
There  was  a  strong  middle  class,  though  it  had  not 
as  yet  much  political  power,  and  it  was  not  confined 
to  the  cities,  as  in  Germany,  but  the  country  yeomen 
or  tenant-farmers  must  be  reckoned  in  the  same 
category.  The  peasantry  had  attained  their  free- 
dom from  serfdom,  and  the  surplus  moved  into  the 
towns  and  found  employment  in  the  various  handi- 
crafts. The  wars  and  the  black  death  had  so  de- 
pleted the  population  that  the  survivors  found  labor 
in  great  demand  at  wages  unprecedentedly  high. 
Manufactures,  especially  of  woolens,  were  rapidly 
growing  in  towns,  and  sheep-farming  was  becoming 
an  important  and  profitable  industry. 


23: 


The  Church 


For  three  centuries  the  English  kings  and  people 
had  been  struggling  to  establish  independence  of 
the  pope  in  the  temporal  administration  of  the 
Church,  but  the  supremacy  of  the  pope  in  matters 
purely  spiritual  had  never  been  questioned  by  crown 
or  law — to  question  it  was  regarded  as  heresy. 
Under  this   general  head   of  spiritual   supremacy, 


The  English  Reformation  107 

however,  the  popes  had  managed  to  get  classified  a 
large  number  of  powers  and  privileges  that  would 
ordinarily  have  been  adjudged  secular.  This  they 
did  mainly  through  their  judicial  functions;  to  the 
courts  of  the  Church  were  ultimately  appealed  all 
causes  that  could  on  any  pretext  be  held  to  involve 
a  question  of  faith  or  morals.  And  what  cause  could 
not  be  made  to  involve  such  a  question,  by  the  in- 
genuity of  the  canon  lawyers?  This  was  the  real 
nature  of  the  papal  supremacy  in  England  on  the 
eve  of  the  Reformation — a  judicial  supremacy  that 
made  the  pope  the  final  arbiter  in  every  suit  of  real 
importance  that  might  be  brought  in  the  kingdom. 

There  is  little  evidence,  at  the  opening  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  of  any  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
English  people  against  the  Church.  Possibly  there 
was  less  flagrant  corruption  among  the  English 
clergy  than  was  common  on  the  Continent.  The 
Church  had,  to  be  sure,  obtained  a  large  share  of 
the  wealth,  as  in  other  countries — not  less  than  one- 
third  of  the  arable  land  is  said  to  have  been  in  its 
possession — but  on  the  other  hand  the  Church  was 
an  exceptionally  just  and  kind  landlord,  and  to  be 
its  tenant  was  esteemed  a  great  privilege.  The 
monastic  properties  were  well  administered,  their 
surplus  revenues  being  used  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor.  The  literature  of  the  time  shows  none  of  m 
that  seething  discontent,  that  deep-seated  dissatis- 
faction with  the  Church  and  its  administration  that 
we  find  in  Germany  and  France. 


io8  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

74.  Abolition  of  the  Roman  Supremacy 

Until  past  middle  life  Henry  VIII  was  notable 
for  orthodoxy  and  for  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  papacy. 
For  writing  a  book  against  Luther  he  received  from 
the  pope  the  title  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  which 
English  kings  bear  to  this  day.  But  about  1527  he 
sought  a  separation  from  his  wife,  Catherine  of 
Aragon,  asking  the  pope  to  annul  their  marriage 
(the  Roman  Church  does  not  grant  divorces)  on 
technical  grounds  of  canon  law.  The  pope  was 
well  disposed  to  grant  the  request,  but  dared  not 
on  account  of  the  opposition  of  Charles  V,  Cather- 
ine's nephew.  A  long  diplomatic  contest  ensued. 
The  king  became  enraged  at  the  duplicity  of  the 
pope,  and  determined  to  take  matters  into  his  own 
hands.  Accordingly,  Parliament  passed  the  Act  of 
Supremacy,  in  1534,  which  made  the  king  the  abso- 
lute head  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Act  of 
Appeals  forbade  all  appeals  from  the  king's  courts 
to  Rome.  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Thomas 
Cranmer,  sitting  as  judge  of  the  highest  court,  now 
declared  the  marriage  of  Henry  and  Catherine  null 
and  void  from  the  beginning,  and  their  daughter 
Mary  illegitimate. 

75.  The  Church  Under  Henry 

1^  It  was  the  exigency  of  Henry's  private  affairs 
that  had  brought  about  this  separation  from  Rome, 
and  the  practical  making  of  the  king  into  an  English 
pope,  not  any  desire  for  reform.    But  he  had  begun 


The  English  Reformation  109 

a  movement  that  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  con- 
trol, and  he  unconsciously  added  to  its  force  by 
permitting  the  publication  of  the  Bible  in  English, 
and  commanding  a  copy  to  be  placed  in  every  parish 
church,  where  the  people  could  read  it.  In  1536, 
ten  articles  of  religion  were  issued  by  the  king's 
authority,  taken  almost  bodily  from  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  A  litany  in  English  was  published  in 
1544,  and  several  primers,  containing  prayers  in 
English  and  brief  religious  pieces.  An  Act  of  Sup- 
pression in  1536  gave  the  king  authority  to  close  the 
monasteries  and  confiscate  their  property,  thus  add- 
ing spoliation  to  reformation  in  England,  as  in 
other  countries,  and  greatly  increasing  the  zeal  of 
many  for  this  sort  of  "  reform."  )  Much  of  this 
property  was  distributed  among  the  new  nobles,  who 
thus  became  partners  with  the  king,  and  pledged  to 
resist  the  restoration  of  papal  authority.  In  his  later 
years,  Henry,  who  had  never  ceased  to  be  a  Catholic 
in  sentiment,  adopted  a  reactionary  policy,  and 
secured  the  passage  of  the  Act  of  Six  Articles, 
which  declared  for:  (i)  Transubstantiation ;  (2) 
communion  in  one  kind;  (3)  Celibacy  of  priests; 
(4)  perpetuity  of  vows;  (5)  private  masses;  (6) 
compulsory  auricular  confession.  It  is  evident  that 
there  was  no  Reformation  under  Henry  VIII. 

76.  Edward  VI 

With  the  accession  of  this  boy  of  nine  years,  in 
1547,  the  real  Reformation  begins,  and  the  leading 


no  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

spirit  throughout  is  Thomas  Cranmer.  Edward's 
first  ParHament  repealed  the  Six  Articles,  and  com- 
manded the  administration  of  the  communion  in 
both  kinds.  The  marriage  of  clergy  was  legalized 
the  following  year.  In  the  meantime,  Cranmer  and 
others  had  been  at  work  on  a  liturgy  in  English, 
and  an  Act  of  Uniformity  in  1549  made  its  use 
obligatory  in  all  parishes  of  the  Church  of  England 
as  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  During  the  sum- 
mer following  there  was  a  visitation  by  royal  com- 
mission of  the  churches  and  clergy  to  enforce  these 
reforms.  The  new  prayer  book  was  criticized  by  a 
section  of  the  clergy  as  not  radical  enough — it  had 
retained  too  many  "  popish  "  usages  to  satisfy  the 
more  radical  reformers — and  as  Cranmer  sympa- 
thized with  them  a  revision  was  made.  A  new  Act 
of  Uniformity  commanded  the  use  of  the  Second 
Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI,  as  it  is  known,  but  be- 
fore the  law  could  be  enforced  the  young  king  died. 

77.  The  Attempted  Revolution 

Parliament  had  authorized  Henry  VIII  to  name 
his  successors  by  will,  and  he  had  named  his  children 
in  the  following  order:  Edward,  Mary,  Elizabeth. 
Mary  was  therefore  the  legal  heir  to  the  throne,  her 
title  resting  on  an  Act  of  Parliament.  But  Mary 
was  a  Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  advisers  of 
Edward  VI  persuaded  him  to  make  a  will  declaring 
his  cousin.  Lady  Jane  Grey,  his  successor.  This 
attempt  to  set  aside  an  Act  of  Parliament  by  the 


The  English  Reformation  iii 

king's  fiat  was  clearly  illegal,  but  had  the  revolu- 
tionary party  been  able  to  make  head  for  a  few- 
months,  they  might  have  summoned  a  parliament 
and  had  Lady  Jane's  title  validated  by  statute,  as 
had  often  been  done  before.  The  attempt  at  revolu- 
tion failed;  the  people  supported  Mary,  who  was 
quickly  seated  on  the  throne;  and  Lady  Jane  Grey, 
after  a  "  reign "  of  two  weeks,  was  sent  to  the 
Tower,  and  later  beheaded  for  treason. 

78.  "  Bloody  "  Mary 

By  successive  Acts  of  Parliament,  all  the  work  of 
reformation  was  undone,  and  in  November,  1554, 
the  pope's  legate  gave  the  English  nation  absolu- 
tion for  their  sins  and  received  them  back  *'  into 
the  unity  of  our  Mother,  the  Holy  Church."  Per- 
secution of  all  Protestants  at  once  followed.  Cran- 
mer,  as  guilty  of  the  double  crime  of  heresy  and 
treason,  was  burned  at  the  stake;  bishops  Hooper, 
Ridley,  and  Latimer  were  also  burned.  John  Rogers, 
and  other  eminent  clergy  followed.  In  all,  nearly 
three  hundred  persons  suffered  death,  mostly  in 
the  last  three  years  of  the  five  that  Mary  reigned. 
There  has  been  much  dispute  as  to  the  responsi- 
bility for  these  persecutions,  but  nothing  can  alter 
the  fact  that  Mary  was  queen  and  affixed  her  signa- 
ture to  the  death  warrants.  Hatred  of  the  Catholic 
Church  became  characteristic  of  the  English  people 
from  this  time  onward.  The  Reformation  was  as- 
sured by  the  very  policy  that  had  threatened  its 


112  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

extinction.     Englishmen  never  forgot  or  forgave 
this  reign, 

79.  Elizabeth's  Reforms 

Though  well  disposed  toward  the  Catholic  Church, 
Elizabeth  was  forced  to  become  a  Protestant  by  the 
policy  of  the  pope.  He  demanded  that  she  submit 
her  claims  to  the  throne  to  him  for  decision,  and 
when  she  refused  this  impossible  demand,  she  was 
excommunicated  and  her  subjects  were  released 
from  their  allegiance.  It  became  impossible  there- 
fore for  a  sincere  English  Catholic  to  be  a  loyal 
subject;  and  Elizabeth  not  only  was  driven  to 
Protestantism,  but  compelled  to  treat  her  Catholic 
subjects  with  severity.  More  than  two  hundred  of 
them  suffered  death,  not  as  Catholics,  but  for  trea- 
son, as  they  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 
The  Church  of  England  was  again  reformed,  and 
from  this  time  remained  Protestant.  The  Sec- 
ond Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI,  with  some  changes, 
was  adopted,  and  its  use  was  required  by  the  Act 
of  Uniformity  of  1559.  By  this  Elizabethan  settle- 
ment, as  it  is  known,  the  Church  of  England  re- 
duced the  sacraments  from  seven  to  two,  and  finally 
rejected  transubstantiation,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass, 
penance,  auricular  confession,  the  invocation  of 
saints,  and  the  use  of  images.  But  the  English 
Reformation  was  a  compromise,  and  the  doctrine  of 
sacramental  grace,  which  is  the  essence  of  Roman- 
ism, was  retained  in  the  prayer  book,  notably  in  the 


The  English  Reformation  113 

communion  office,  which  recognizes  the  real  pres- 
ence, and  in  the  baptismal  service,  which  teaches 
baptismal  regeneration.  The  retention  of  words 
like  "  altar  "  and  ''  priest  "  also  encouraged  sacer- 
dotalism. On  the  other  hand,  the  Articles  recognize 
the  Scriptures  as  the  sole  authority,  and  teach  justi- 
fication by  faith ;  while  we  frequently  find  "  min- 
ister "  used  instead  of  "  priest "  in  the  Articles  and 
rubrics.  There  is  thus  a  historic  justification  for 
the  parties  into  which  the  Church  has  been  divided 
ever  since  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  These  compro- 
mises were  the  result  of  a  theory,  to  which  English- 
men are  still  greatly  attached,  that  the  Church  should 
be  national,  and  that  every  subject  of  the  king  should 
be  by  birth  a  member  of  it  and  have  his  rights  as 
accurately  defined  by  law  as  his  civil  rights. 

80.  The  Puritans 

A  party  in  the  Church,  small  in  numbers  but 
considerable  by  reason  of  learning  and  character, 
wished  for  a  more  radical  reform.  It  seemed  to 
them  that  the  Elizabethan  compromise  retained  too 
much  of  Romanism  in  the  Church  of  England. 
They  had  conscientious  scruples  against  wearing 
the  surplice,  as  a  priestly  garment,  against  kneeling 
at  the  Communion,  the  sign  of  the  cross  in  baptism, 
and  the  like.  This  party  became  known  as  Puri- 
tans, and  later  grew  to  a  quite  formidable  strength. 
One  section  of  them  became  Presbyterians,  and  de- 
nounced episcopal  government  as  "  prelacy  "  and  a 


114  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

relic  of  popery.  They  were  not  Separatists,  prefer- 
ring to  remain  in  the  Church  and  secure  its  further 
reformation  according  to  their  ideas.  At  the  acces- 
sion of  James  I  (1603),  they  hoped  for  more  Hberal 
treatment,  but  though  bred  as  a  Presbyterian  James 
was  much  incHned  toward  episcopal  government  and 
the  High  Church  party  After  a  conference  with  the 
Puritans,  he  declared  that  he  would  make  them  con- 
form, or  he  would  "  harry  them  out  of  the  land." 

81.  The  King  James  Bible 

The  most  creditable  event  of  this  reign  was  the 
making  of  a  revision  of  the  various  translations 
of  the  English  Bible,  a  work  begun  in  1607  and 
published  in  161 1.  Fifty-four  of  the  best  scholars 
in  England  were  engaged  in  this  revision,  meeting  in 
six  companies  of  nine  each.  A  joint  committee  of 
two  persons  from  each  company  revised  the  whole, 
and  gave  to  it  a  uniform  character.  Though  this 
has  long  been  the  Bible  of  the  English-speaking 
people,  and  is  everywhere  honored  by  scholars  as  a 
"  well  of  English  undefiled,"  its  merits  were  not  at 
once  recognized.  The  Puritans  were  prejudiced 
against  anything  that  came  from  King  James,  and 
were  besides  much  attached  to  their  Genevan  ver- 
sion. It  was  not  until  after  the  Restoration  (1662), 
when  the  prayer  book  was  again  revised  and  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  made  to  correspond  with  this 
version,  and  the  entire  book  was  regularly  read  In 
the  parish  churches,  that  the  King  James  version 


The  English  Reformation  115 

began  to  grow  in  favor  and  finally  came  into  general 
use.  Its  ultimate  acceptance,  however,  was  de- 
termined more  by  its  own  superior  merits  than  by 
ecclesiastical  authority. 

82.  Laud  and  the  Anglo-Catholics 

As  the  Puritans  gathered  strength,  a  party  took 
form  in  the  Church  to  oppose  them.  This  party 
disliked  the  name  Protestant;  they  regarded  the 
Church  of  England  as  a  branch  of  the  ancient 
Catholic  Church  over  which  the  pope  had  unjustly 
usurped  authority.  They  approved  so  much  of  the 
Reformation  as  the  separation  of  the  Church  of 
England  from  the  papacy,  and  the  restoration  of 
its  worship  and  discipline  to  that  of  the  first  seven 
ecumenical  councils.  This  Anglo-CathoHc  party  ob- 
tained the  upper  hand  in  the  Church  for  a  time, 
through  the  support  of  the  crown  and  the  leadership 
of  William  Laud,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He 
attempted  to  impose  the  Catholic  theory  by  force  on 
the  Puritans,  and  in  return  for  the  support  of 
Charles  I  in  this  policy  upheld  the  illegal  exercise 
of  the  royal  prerogative  by  that  monarch.  By  the 
Court  of  High  Commission  and  the  Star  Chamber, 
two  bodies  that  had  a  legal  origin  but  had  arrogated 
to  themselves  much  illegal  power,  those  who  resisted 
the  king  and  archbishop  were  imprisoned,  fined,  put 
in  the  pillory,  had  their  ears  cut  off,  and  in  most 
cases  contrary  to  the  laws  of  England,  which  guar- 
anteed to  every  man  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers. 


Ii6  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Laud  was  a  sincere  man,  pious  according  to  his 
lights,  but  narrow-minded,  and  quite  incapable  of 
understanding  his  Puritan  opponents. 

83.  The  Revolution 

When  the  Long  Parliament  met  (1640)  the  Puri- 
tan party  was  by  no  means  a  majority,  but  it  was  a 
very  strong,  compact,  and  determined  minority. 
The  Puritans  knew  precisely  what  they  wanted,  and 
united  in  common  measures  to  obtain  it;  and  in 
such  a  body  as  Parliament,  a  minority  like  this 
would  wield  an  influence  out  of  proportion  to  its 
numbers.  There  were  no  political  parties  in  Eng- 
land, in  the  present  acceptation  of  the  term,  but  the 
House  of  Commons  consisted  of  what  are  now 
called  "  groups,"  and  this  Puritan  group  was  large 
and  most  influential  from  the  first.  The  Presby- 
terians were  by  far  the  most  numerous  group  of 
the  Puritans,  and  after  the  beginning  of  open  and 
civil  war,  by  the  destruction  and  exclusion  of  Royal- 
ist members  the  Presbyterians  became,  or  at  least 
controlled,  a  majority.  From  this  time  on,  for  sev- 
eral years,  the  Presbyterians  had  an  acknowledged 
and  unquestioned  supremacy,  through  Parliament, 
in  the  nation.  They  succeeded  in  passing,  even  as 
early  as  1641,  with  the  help  of  many  moderate 
Churchmen,  a  series  of  "  Resolutions  "  against  the 
use  of  the  crucifix,  ritual,  candles,  and  obeisances. 
In  1643,  they  passed  what  is  known  as  the  "  Root 
and  Branch  Act,"  which  abolished  bishops,  deans. 


The  English  Reformation  117 

and  chapters,  and  was  supposed  completely  to  ex- 
terminate popery.  The  same  year,  an  act  was 
passed  for  the  calling  together  of  an  "  Assembly 
of  Godly  Divines  "  to  set  in  order  the  doctrines  and 
practices  of  the  Church  of  England,  afterward 
known  as  the  Westminster  Assembly.  In  1644,  in 
order  to  obtain  the  military  aid  of  the  Scots  in  the 
civil  war,  Parliament  adopted  a  Covenant  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  the  Scotch  Covenant,  and 
ordered  every  man  of  the  nation  to  subscribe  to  it. 
The  Presbyterians  showed  an  intolerance  that  pretty 
well  matched  that  of  Laud.  They  had  been  loud  in 
their  demands  for  religious  liberty  for  themselves, 
but  when  they  got  the  power  into  their  own  hands, 
they  turned  on  their  brother  dissenters  and  perse- 
cuted them  with  about  as  much  rancor  and  severity 
as  Laud  had  shown.  In  1648,  the  Presbyterian 
Parliament  proposed  a  statute  making  death  the  pen- 
alty for  eight  errors  of  religious  doctrine,  the  most 
important  being  the  denial  of  God,  the  Trinity,  and 
the  canonical  books  of  Scripture.  The  same  statute 
prescribed  sixteen  erroneous  opinions,  for  which  the 
penalty  was  commitment  to  prison.  No  definite 
term  was  fixed,  and  the  offender  could  be  kept  in 
prison  at  the  discretion  of  the  magistrate.  One  of 
these  specified  errors  was  denial  of  infant  baptism. 
December  6,  1648,  Cromwell  took  matters  into  his 
own  hands,  stationed  Colonel  Pride  and  a  troop  of 
soldiers  at  the  door  of  Parliament,  and  ordered  forty 
of  the  chief  Presbyterians  to  be  excluded.     Thus, 


ii8  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

by  "  Pride's  Purge,"  was  the  period  of  Presbyterian 
domination  brought  to  a  summary  conclusion. 

84.  The  Westminster  Assembly 

By  authority  of  ParHament,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  divines,  including  several  bishops,  were 
invited  to  become  members  of  this  assembly,  but 
none  of  the  bishops  accepted  the  invitation,  the 
king  having  forbidden  their  attendance.  The  first 
attempt  of  the  Assembly  was  to  revise  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles.  They  soon  abandoned  the  work  of 
revision,  however,  for  the  construction  of  an  entirely 
new  Confession  of  Faith.  The  preparation  of  the 
Longer  and  Shorter  Catechisms  followed.  It  was 
never  the  intention  that  subscription  should  be  re- 
quired to  the  Confession  from  all  Christians,  but 
only  from  ministers,  and  perhaps  teachers ;  but  every 
one  was  to  be  taught  the  Catechism,  which  con- 
tained the  same  doctrine  in  simpler  form.  A  Di- 
rectory for  Worship  was  the  last  work  of  the  As- 
sembly, and  this  was  intended  to  supersede  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer.  This  Assembly  was  one  of  the 
ablest  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  and  many  of  its  members  were  as  eminent 
for  piety  as  they  were  for  learning.  The  system 
that  they  thus  outlined  was  never  accepted  in 
England,  except  locally,  as  for  instance  in  London. 
There  are  said  to  have  been  two  counties  in  England, 
Middlesex,  and  Lancashire,  where  the  Presbyterian 
system  was  pretty  thoroughly  put  into  effect,  but 


The  English  Reformation  119 

elsewhere  it  only  had  a  nominal  existence.  Those 
of  the  clergy,  however,  who  could  not  sign  the 
covenant,  were  driven  out  of  their  churches.  The 
numbers  of  those  thus  deprived  of  their  benefices 
are  variously  estimated  from  one  to  two  thousand, 
clergy  who  either  could  not  or  would  not  subscribe 
to  the  Covenant,  the  Westminster  Confession,  and 
the  use  of  the  Directory  of  Worship,  as  well  as  agree 
to  the  disuse  of  the  prayer  book.  They  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England  who  still  retained 
their  love  for  the  old  doctrines  and  form  of  worship. 

85.  The  Commonwealth 

The  result  of  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  was 
to  establish  a  military  despotism.  The  people  of 
England  had  rebelled  against  the  tyranny  of  Charles 
and  Laud,  and  found  themselves  subject  to  the 
tyranny  of  Cromwell.  Of  course  he  observed  more 
or  less  the  forms  of  law.  His  was  a  benevolent 
despotism,  and  in  many  ways  the  best  government 
that  England  ever  had.  Cromwell  succeeded  in  ma- 
king England  respected  and  feared  throughout 
Europe.  We  are  concerned  more  directly  with  the 
religious  system  than  with  the  civil,  but  the  two  are 
bound  together  pretty  closely  in  this  period.  Crom- 
well assumed  the  same  power  in  the  Church  as  in 
the  State.  It  was  fortunate  that  in  religious  affairs 
he  was  at  least  two  centuries  ahead  of  his  time,  for 
he  believed  in  toleration  and  would  have  given  equal 
religious  privileges  to  all  if  he  had  been  left  to  him- 


I20  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

self.  There  were  limits,  however,  which  even  he 
could  not  pass,  in  spite  of  his  apparently  un- 
limited power.  He  had  to  make  exception  of  the 
Catholics  and  Jews  in  his  measures  of  toleration. 
He  also  proceeded  against  the  Church  of  England 
clergy  with  more  severity  than  he  personally  favored, 
because  of  the  urging  of  the  extreme  Puritans. 
What  he  accomplished  was  to  establish  practical 
freedom  of  worship  throughout  England,  and  to 
maintain  a  State  religion  in  favor  of  no  one. sect. 
He  admitted  Presbyterians,  Independents,  Baptists, 
and  others,  on  equal  footing,  and  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  "  Triers,"  composed  of  men  of  different 
denominations,  to  examine  into  the  qualifications  of 
ministers.  These  had  a  general  power  of  visitation, 
and  were  expected  to  examine  the  incumbent  of 
every  parish  and  see  if  he  was  a  man  of  piety  and 
good  character — the  only  standard  required  or  al- 
lowed. In  particular,  no  inquiry  was  to  be  made 
into  the  peculiar  religious  views  of  ministers. 

86.  The  Restoration  and  Final  Settlement 

The  death  of  Cromwell  left  no  one  capable  of 
carrying  on  the  government,  and  after  a  period  of 
confusion  Charles  II  was  restored  to  the  throne. 
He  made  a  promise  of  "  liberty  to  tender  con- 
sciences "  and  of  approval  to  all  measures  his  Parlia- 
ments might  pass.  He  seems  to  have  done  what  he 
could  to  fulfil  the  promise,  but  the  reaction  against 
Puritanism  was  too  strong  to  be  controlled.     The 


The  English  Reformation  121 

Church  of  England  was  restored,  with  Httle  change 
from  that  of  Ehzabeth,  and  has  remained  since  with 
almost  no  change.  This  was  generally  expected, 
but  severe  persecution  of  the  Puritans  now  followed. 
An  Act  of  Uniformity  in  1662  required  the  use  of 
the  prayer  book  in  every  parish,  and  commanded  all 
ministers  who  lacked  episcopal  ordination  to  secure 
it.  August  24,  was  set  for  the  beginning  of  the  new 
order,  and  on  that  day  two  thousand  ministers  left 
their  parishes  because  they  could  not  conscientiously 
comply  with  the  law.  This  was  a  second  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, as  disastrous  to  the  Church  of  England 
as  the  day  of  massacre  had  been  to  France.  Several 
acts  were  also  passed  by  Parliament  for  the  repres- 
sion of  this  dissent.  The  Conventicle  Act  prohibited 
all  meetings  in  private  houses,  of  more  than  five 
persons  not  belonging  to  the  family.  The  Five  Mile 
Act  forbade  any  dissenting  minister  to  go  within 
five  miles  of  any  borough  or  corporate  town.  The 
Test  Act  excluded  from  public  office  every  one  who 
could  not  present  a  certificate  that  he  had  within  a 
year  received  the  Communion  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Church  of  England.  It  was  for  breach  of 
the  Conventicle  Act  that  John  Bunyan  was  impris- 
oned for  twelve  years  in  Bedford  jail,  to  which  im- 
prisonment we  owe  the  "  Pilgrim's  Progress." 

Bibliography 

The    general    histories    of   England   by    Hume, 
Froude,   and   Green   contain  valuable   chapters   on 


122  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

the  Reformation.  Green  is  especially  judicious  and 
trustworthy.  Lingard  gives  the  story  from  the 
moderate  Roman  Catholic  point  of  view.  Geikie's 
English  Reformation  (New  York,  1879)  is  too 
uncompromisingly  Protestant.  Cobbett's,  though 
written  by  a  Protestant,  who  hated  the  Church  of 
England,  leans  too  strongly  to  the  Catholic  side. 
If  both  Geikie  and  Cobbett  are  taken  in  alter- 
nate doses,  their  errors  will  neutralize  each  other. 
Valuable  monographs  are :  Gee  and  Hardy,  Doc- 
uments Illustrative  of  English  Church  History 
(New  York,  1896),  quite  indispensable;  Hardwick, 
History  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  (Bohn,  $1.50)  ; 
Proctor,  History  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
(Macmillan,  $3)  ;  Gregory,  Puritanism  (Revell, 
$2).  Biographies  of  much  value  are:  Carlyle's 
Oliver  Cromwell,  to  be  had  in  many  editions ;  Mor- 
ley's  Cromwell  is  a  later  and  very  able  study; 
Benson's  Archbishop  Laud  (London,  1887)  is  a 
sympathetic  study  of  a  much  misunderstood  man. 
Mitchell's  Westminster  Assembly  (Baird  Lectures, 
1882)  throws  great  light  on  the  Presbyterian  party, 
while  Skeats's  History  of  the  Free  Churches  of 
England  (London,  1891),  is  the  one  book  that  satis- 
factorily covers  the  early  history  of  all  Noncon- 
formist bodies. 

The  Quiz 

How  did  England's  wealth  compare  with  that  of 
other  European  kingdoms  in  the  sixteenth  century? 


The  English  Reformation  123 

Her  population?  Was  her  government  efficient? 
Was  there  a  middle  class  ?  How  was  the  crown  dis- 
posed toward  the  papacy?  What  was  the  cause  of 
the  quarrel?  How  did  the  people  feel  toward  the 
Church?  Was  there  any  general  demand  for  re- 
form? What  were  the  relations  of  Henry  VHI  to 
the  pope  ?  What  caused  the  dispute  between  them  ? 
What  policy  did  Henry  adopt  ?  What  relation  to  the 
Church  of  England  did  he  assume?  What  did  he 
do  about  the  Bible?  What  were  the  Ten  Articles? 
What  were  the  Six  Articles?  How  were  the  mon- 
asteries treated?  When  did  the  real  reformation 
begin ?  Who  was  its  leading  spirit?  What  were  the 
chief  reforms  made  in  the  Church  of  England?  On 
what  does  the  title  of  the  kings  of  England  rest? 
Why  was  not  Lady  Jane  Grey  lawful  queen?  Why 
was  Mary  called  "  Bloody  "  ?  How  many  martyrs 
during  her  reign?  Name  some  of  the  more  promi- 
nent. Why  was  Elizabeth  a  Protestant  ?  Why  were 
Catholics  put  to  death  during  her  reign?  How  did 
they  differ  from  the  Protestant  martyrs  of  Mary's 
time  ?  What  was  the  Elizabethan  ''  settlement  "  ? 
What  inconsistencies  are  found  in  the  prayer  book? 
What  is  the  theory  of  the  Church  of  England  ?  Who 
were  the  Puritans?  Did  they  all  agree?  How  did 
James  I  treat  them?  How  did  the  King  James 
translation  come  to  be  made?  When  did  it  come 
into  general  use  ?  What  is  meant  by  Anglo-Catholi- 
cism? Who  was  William  Laud?  What  was  the 
Court  of  High  Commission?     What  was  the  Star 


124  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Chamber?  Were  the  penalties  inflicted  by  these 
courts  legal?  Why  not?  Why  do  we  speak  of  the 
Long  Parliament?  What  was  the  character  of  its 
first  legislation?  Were  the  Presbyterians  tolerant 
when  they  obtained  power?  What  did  Cromwell 
do  to  check  them  ?  What  was  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly? What  three  documents  were  its  chief 
work?  Was  the  system  planned  ever  enforced? 
What  was  the  nature  of  Cromwell's  government? 
Did  he  favor  toleration?  Unlimited?  How  did  he 
rule  the  Church?  Why  were  the  Stuarts  restored? 
What  was  done  about  the  Church?  What  was  the 
second  St.  Bartholomew's  day?  In  what  way  were 
Nonconformists  treated  ? 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  RADICAL  REFORMATION 
87.  The  Swiss  Anabaptists 

In  the  year  1523,  differences  began  to  develop 
among  the  followers  of  Zwingli,  at  Zurich.  He  had 
begun  his  labors  by  declaring  that  the  Scriptures 
were  to  be  the  rule  in  all  things.  It  was  not  long 
before  some  of  the  people  discovered  that  there  is 
no  more  authority  in  the  New  Testament  for  the 
baptism  of  infants  than  for  feasts,  images,  and  the 
mass.  Zwingli  was  at  first  inclined  to  agree  with 
this  view,  but  he  soon  discovered  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  gain  the  approval  of  the  council  for 
so  radical  a  reform,  and  a  reformation  without  the 
council  seemed  to  him  impossible.  He  thereupon 
changed  his  ground,  retained  the  connection  of  the 
Church  with  the  State,  and  defended  infant  baptism. 
Others  found  themselves  unable  to  change,  and 
separated  from  him.  They  soon  saw  that  their  own 
baptism  received  in  infancy  was  null,  and  were  bap- 
tized on  confession  of  faith.  They  were  therefore 
named  Anabaptists,  or  rebaptizers.  At  first  they 
were  satisfied  with  being  affused  or  sprinkled,  but 
becoming  better  instructed  in  the  Scriptures,  prac- 
tised immersion.  From  this  time  onward,  both 
methods  of  baptism  are  found  among  the  Anabap- 

125 


126  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

tists,  to  whom  the  question  of  the  proper  subjects 
of  baptism  seemed  more  important  than  the  proper 
act  of  baptism. 

88.  Origin  and  Doctrines 

It  is  a  question  still  unsettled  whether  the  Ana- 
baptists originated  in  connection  with  the  Zurich 
reform,  or  are  a  revival  of  an  earlier  sect  or  sects. 
Their  principles  were  substantially  identical  with 
those  of  the  Waldensians  and  Petrobrusians.  They 
held  strongly  to  the  doctrine  of  a  regenerate  church ; 
that  is,  a  church  consisting  only  of  those  who  had  a 
personal  experience  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  were 
baptized  on  a  profession  of  faith  in  Christ,  and  in 
addition  gave  evidence  by  a  godly  life  of  the  truth 
of  their  profession.  They  rejected  the  Roman  doc- 
trines and  practices  that  are  incompatible  with  this 
principle,  as  well  as  without  authority  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Most  of  them  were  opposed  to  the  bearing 
of  arms  and  the  taking  of  oaths.  Some  favored  a 
community  of  goods. 

89.  Persecution  Begins 

The  questions  at  issue  were  discussed  in  two  dis- 
putations, by  order  of  the  Zurich  council,  and  the 
Anabaptists  were  declared  to  be  defeated.  Ana- 
baptism  was  thenceforth  treated  as  a  crime.  Those 
guilty  of  it  were  first  fined,  then  some  were  banished, 
others  were  drowned.  The  leaders  being  thus  killed 
or  driven  away,  it  proved  easy  to  suppress  the  rest, 


The  Radical  Reformation  127 

and  the  Anabaptists  gradually  disappeared  from 
Zurich.  They  had,  however,  appeared  in  some  of 
the  other  cantons,  notably  in  Bern,  and  there  they 
proved  to  be  less  dependent  on  leaders  and  more 
persistent  in  the  midst  of  persecution.  They  have 
survived  in  this  canton  to  the  present  time,  and 
since  1830  have  been  divided  into  two  parties,  one 
practising  immersion,  the  other  sprinkling.  Large 
numbers  of  the  Swiss  Anabaptists  emigrated,  some  to 
Poland,  others  to  the  Palatinate,  many  to  America. 

90.  Balthasar  Hubmaier 

The  most  influential  man  among  the  Anabaptists, 
because  of  the  wide  circulation  of  his  numerous 
writings,  was  a  native  of  Bavaria,  born  near  Augs- 
burg about  148 1.  He  was  educated  at  the  University 
of  Freiburg,  where  he  came  under  the  influence  of 
John  Eck,  became  lecturer  in  theology,  and  followed 
his  teacher  to  the  University  of  Ingolstadt,  where 
he  was  professor  and  college  preacher.  Afterward 
he  was  cathedral  preacher  at  Regensburg,  where  he 
gained  a  wide  repute  for  eloquence.  He  became 
chief  preacher  of  the  town  of  Waldshut,  near  the 
canton  of  Schaffhausen,  and  so  came  into  close 
relations  with  the  Swiss  leaders.  He  was  present  at 
the  second  disputation  of  Zurich  and  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  it,  but  soon  after  adopted  a  more  radical 
course  than  Zwingli  approved,  and  finally  became  an 
Anabaptist  in  1525.  Driven  out  of  Waldshut  by  the 
Austrian  government,  he  went  to  Zurich,  where  he 


128  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

was  arrested,  tortured,  and  forced  to  make  a  partial 
recantation  of  his  teachings. 

91.  Anabaptists  in  Moravia 

Before  this  time,  Anabaptists  had  made  their 
appearance  in  Moravia,  and  when  he  was  released 
at  Zurich  Hiibmaier  made  his  way  to  that  country. 
Owing  to  the  political  confusion  of  the  time  a  con- 
siderable measure  of  toleration  was  granted  here, 
and  the  gospel  was  preached  with  zeal  and  found 
acceptance.  Some  important  nobles,  including  the 
proprietors  of  Nikolsburg,  the  Lords  Lichtenstein, 
were  converted  to  Anabaptism.  But  soon  the  Aus- 
trian government  asserted  its  authority,  Hiibmaier 
was  arrested  and  burned  at  Vienna  in  1528,  and  the 
Anabaptists  were  severely  persecuted.  In  the  in- 
tervals of  peace  enjoyed  by  them  they  prospered 
greatly  and  established  communities  that  were 
models  of  thrift  and  economic  efficiency.  In  spite  of 
many  sufferings  and  almost  insuperable  difficulties, 
they  maintained  their  existence  down  to  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  all  traces 
of  them  vanish. 

92.  John  Denck 

The  leader  of  the  South  German  Anabaptists  was 
born  in  Bavaria  about  1495.  He  was  a  student  at 
Basel  in  1523,  and  took  his  Master's  degree  there. 
He  then  became  rector  of  St.  Sebald's  school  at 
Nuremberg,  a  free  city  where  the  Lutheran  doctrine 


The  Radical  Reformation  129 

had  prevailed.  For  some  differences  from  the  Lu- 
theran theology  he  was  banished.  Afterward  we 
find  him  at  Augsburg,  where  he  was  baptized  by 
Hiibmaier,  and  became  the  leader  of  the  Anabaptists 
who  were  very  numerous  in  Augsburg  and  its 
vicinity.  Denck  was  one  of  the  most  learned  among 
the  Anabaptists,  and  with  Hatzer  issued  a  translation 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets  into  German.  He  believed 
in  the  final  restoration  of  the  wicked,  but  was  prob- 
ably not  a  Unitarian,  as  was  charged  by  some  op- 
ponents. He  was  a  mystic,  and  anticipated  the  doc- 
trines of  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Friends. 
His  last  years  were  spent  in  wandering  from  place 
to  place,  and  he  died  at  Basel  in  1527. 

93.  Melchior  Hofmann 

Denck's  successor  in  the  leadership  of  the  Ger- 
man Anabaptists  was  born  in  Swabia  about  1490. 
He  had  only  a  slight  education,  but  became  an 
ardent  student  of  the  Scriptures  and  a  follower  of 
Luther.  Some  years  he  spent  as  a  preacher  in 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  and  published  his  first  writ- 
ing in  Stockholm,  in  1526 — an  interpretation  of 
Daniel.  About  the  beginning  of  1529  he  went  to 
Strassburg,  where  he  adopted  Anabaptist  views  and 
soon  was  their  acknowledged  leader.  His  study  of 
the  prophetic  writings  had  convinced  him  that  Christ 
was  speedily  to  return  to  earth  and  set  up  his  millen- 
nial kingdom.  He  fixed  the  summer  of  1533  for  the 
consummation,  and  assured  his  followers  that 
I 


130  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Strassburg  was  to  be  the  New  Jerusalem.  He  was 
arrested  by  the  magistrates  and  thrown  into  prison 
in  May  of  that  year,  where  he  Hngered  for  ten 
years  before  he  died. 

94.  The  Miinster  Outbreak 

In  the  last  months  of  his  labors,  Hofmann  made  a 
journey  into  Holland,  where  he  baptized  many  con- 
verts, among  them  a  baker  of  Haarlem,  named  Jan 
Mathys.  After  Hofmann's  imprisonment,  Mathys 
gave  himself  out  to  be  a  prophet,  and  found  many 
of  the  Anabaptists  credulous  enough  to  receive  him 
as  such.  A  revolution  occurred  at  this  time  in  the 
city  of  Miinster,  the  prince-bishop  being  driven  out 
and  the  Lutheran  faith  being  established.  Mathys 
and  many  of  his  followers  flocked  into  the  city,  and 
got  possession  of  the  town  and  its  government. 
They  set  up  the  new  kingdom  of  Christ,  believing 
that  he  was  about  to  appear,  but  the  Lutheran 
princes  sent  forces  to  besiege  the  city,  and  Mathys 
was  killed  in  a  sortie.  One  of  his  followers,  John 
Bockhold,  of  Leyden,  declared  himself  to  be  the 
successor  of  Mathys,  and  was  proclaimed  the  King 
David  of  this  New  Jerusalem.  In  imitation  of 
David  he  established  a  harem,  and  polygamy  became 
the  law  of  the  new  kingdom.  These,  and  other 
foolish  excesses  of  these  Miinster  Anabaptists,  alien- 
ated the  sympathy  of  others  of  like  faith,  who  had 
been  expected  to  come  to  their  relief,  and  the  city 
was  taken  in  June,   1535.     The  leaders  were  put 


The  Radical  Reformation  131 

to  death  with  cruel  tortures,  and  their  bodies  were 
hung  in  iron  cages  to  the  towers  of  a  church  in  the 
market-place. 

95.  Persecution  of  the  Anabaptists 

Even  before  this  the  persecution  of  Anabaptists 
was  general  in  Germany.  The  Elector  of  Saxony, 
the  friend  and  supporter  of  Luther,  began  to  punish 
them  by  fines,  imprisonment,  and  banishment,  as 
early  as  1528.  In  1529  the  Diet  of  Speyer  decreed 
that  all  Anabaptists  should  be  put  to  death,  by  fire 
or  sword;  and  the  princes  who  made  their  famous 
protest,  and  demanded  religious  liberty  for  them- 
selves, fully  approved  this  treatment  of  these  here- 
tics. But  the  disorders  at  Miinster  were  made  the 
pretext  for  a  still  greater  severity;  all  Anabaptists 
were  included  in  a  common  condemnation.  Every- 
thing was  done  to  afiix  an  ineffaceable  stigma  of 
disgrace  upon  the  name  Anabaptist.  It  became  the 
symbol  of  all  that  was  fanatical  in  creed  and  im- 
moral in  conduct.  The  most  stringent  laws  against 
Anabaptists  were  passed  in  every  part  of  Germany, 
and  enforced  without  mercy  and  without  distinc- 
tions. As  against  the  kind  of  Anabaptists  who,  in 
small  numbers  comparatively,  had  been  engaged  in 
these  disorders,  this  policy  was  not  without  justifi- 
cation ;  but  as  against  Anabaptists  in  general  it  was 
grossly  unjust.  It  was,  however,  effective.  In  ten 
years  there  were  few  avowed  Anabaptists  left  in 
Germany,  and  those  few  maintained  an  existence 


132  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

only  by  the  utmost  secrecy  and  caution.  The  de- 
velopment of  the  Anabaptist  movement  was  checked, 
but  not  stopped;  the  stream,  turned  aside  by  this 
obstacle,  found  a  course  elsewhere. 

96.  Menno  Simons 

The  man  with  whom  this  new  Anabaptist  move- 
ment was  connected  was  born  in  Friesland,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  authorities,  in  1492.  Little  is  known 
of  his  youth,  except  that  he  was  educated  for  the 
priesthood  and  was  ordained  about  15 15.  Though 
the  Reformation  did  not  extend  to  his  region  until 
later,  its  echoes  probably  reached  him,  and  con- 
firmed in  him  doubts  that  he  had  from  the  first  re- 
garding the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  For  a 
time  Menno  tried  to  put  away  these  doubts  as  temp- 
tations of  the  devil,  but  at  length  he  took  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  which  he  had  before  re- 
garded as  a  dangerous  and  seducing  book.  Sedu- 
cing from  the  errors  of  Rome  he  indeed  found  it, 
for  in  no  long  time  he  was  a  new  man  because 
of  that  study,  and  began  to  preach  with  a  new  evan- 
gelical power.  The  final  change  in  his  opinions  was 
produced  in  1531,  when  the  burning  of  a  poor  Ana- 
baptist tailor  at  the  stake  made  an  impression  on  his 
soul  from  which  he  was  never  to  be  freed,  until 
the  Spirit  of  God  had  led  him  into  the  truth.  Until 
1536  he  continued  to  be  a  priest  of  the  Roman 
Church,  long  after  he  had  ceased  to  hold  or  teach 
Catholic  doctrine ;  but  at  length  his  conscience  could 


The  Radical  Reformation  133 

no  longer  tolerate  such  a  compromise,  and  he 
resigned  his  office  and  began  the  great  work  of 
his  life  as  an  independent  religious  teacher. 

97.  Spread  of  the  Mennonites 

This  work  of  Menno  ended  only  with  his  death, 
in  1559.  He  preached  the  gospel  throughout 
Northern  Europe  and  gathered  thousands  of  fol- 
lowers. His  last  years  were  spent  in  Holstein,  and 
he  left  behind  him  a  large  number  of  writings  in 
which  the  principles  since  professed  by  his  followers 
are  fully  set  forth.  These  followers  were  found  in 
all  parts  of  Northern  Europe,  but  they  flourished 
most  on  Dutch  soil,  for  in  Holland  they  were  granted 
toleration.  In  the  Netherlands  they  exist  in  con- 
siderable numbers  until  this  day.  Elsewhere  they 
are  mostly  a  feeble  and  scattered  folk,  except  in 
the  United  States.  Successive  immigrations  have 
brought  the  majority  of  the  Mennonites  in  the  world 
to  American  soil,  and  they  are  now  found  in  nearly 
every  State  in  the  Union.  Twelve  branches  of  them 
are  reported,  with  various  differences  in  polity  and 
doctrine,  aggregating  in  1890  a  membership  of 
forty-one  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-one.  As 
the  followers  of  Menno  had  no  formal  creeds  and 
professed  the  Scriptures  alone  as  their  standard  of 
faith  and  practice,  it  was  natural  that  considerable 
differences  should  arise  among  them.  They  became 
divided  into  High  and  Low  (Obere  and  Untere). 
The    former    held    to   vigorous    discipline,    or   the 


134  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

"ban " ;  condemned  the  use  of  buttons  and  the 
practice  of  shaving.  The  Low  party  favored  a  mild 
discipHne  and  would  reserve  the  ''  ban  "  for  cases  of 
flagrant  immorality,  while  they  regarded  the  use  of 
buttons  and  shaving  the  beard  as  matters  for  indi- 
vidual decision,  not  for  church  rule.  During  a 
period  of  temporary  persecution  in  the  Netherlands 
many  Dutch  Anabaptists  found  their  way  to  Eng- 
land, where  not  a  few  of  them  became  victims  of 
the  zeal  of  English  monarchs  for  religious  ortho- 
doxy and  were  burned  at  the  stake. 

98.  The  Socinians 

An  offshoot  of  the  Anabaptists  were  the  Socin- 
ians, who  originated  in  Poland,  as  the  result  of  the 
teachings  of  Lselius  and  Faustus  Socinus.  These 
leaders  were  of  Italian  birth.  Lselius,  the  elder,  was 
a  friend  of  some  of  the  reformers,  and  never  pub- 
lished his  theological  writings ;  but  his  nephew, 
Faustus,  took  refuge  in  Poland  about  1579,  where 
he  published  both  his  own  and  his  uncle's  writings, 
and  many  of  the  Anabaptists  joined  him.  The  Ra- 
kow  catechism,  issued  in  1605,  gave  a  formal  expo- 
sition of  the  Socinian  theology,  which  was  the  begin- 
ning of  modern  Unitarianism.  But  though  they  de- 
nied the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  they  accepted  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  miracles.  Most  of 
the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Calvinism  were  rejected 
by  them,  and  they  revived  the  idea  of  the  atonement 
first  set  forth  by  Abelard,  that  the  death  of  Christ 


The  Radical  Reformation  135 

was  only  an  object-lesson  of  the  divine  love,  and  in 
no  sense  vicarious.  Many  of  the  Reformed  clergy 
of  the  Netherlands  became  Socinian,  and  the  Pres- 
byterians of  England  were  also  seriously  affected 
by  their  doctrines. 

99.  The  English  Separatists 

One  wing  of  the  Puritans  became  too  radical  in 
their  views  to  remain  in  the  Church  of  England. 
Robert  Browne,  about  1582,  began  to  teach  that  the 
Church  was  hopelessly  corrupt,  and  it  was  the  duty 
of  true  Christians  to  separate  from  her.  Any  com- 
pany of  believers,  he  held,  might  constitute  a  church, 
and  had  the  power  to  revive  ecclesiastical  offices  and 
ordinances  without  apostolic  succession  or  human 
sanction.  Groups  of  Separatists  formed  from  time 
to  time  were  broken  up,  and  their  ministers  were  im- 
prisoned, banished,  in  some  cases  put  to  death. 
One  of  the  earliest  of  these  met  at  Scrooby  manor, 
in  Nottinghamshire.  One  of  its  "  teachers  "  was 
John  Smyth,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  lecturer  at 
Lincoln  from  1600  to  1605.  Another  was  John 
Robinson.  William  Bradford  was  one  of  the  leading 
members.  Persecution  led  the  whole  church  to  emi- 
grate to  Holland,  where  part  of  them,  including 
Robinson  and  Bradford,  settled  at  Leyden  and  the 
rest  at  Amsterdam.  It  was  the  Leyden  group  that 
became  the  nucleus  of  the  party  that  emigrated  in 
the  Mayflower  and  settled  at  Plymouth,  Mass.,  in 
1620.    In  1616  a  Separatist  church  was  organized  in 


The  Period  of  the  Reformation 


Southwark,  London,  and  Henry  Jacob  became 
its  ''  teacher."  From  this  congregation  sprang  the 
various  churches  of  the  Independent  or  Congrega- 
tional order  in  England. 

100.  The  General  Baptists 

When  John  Smyth  and  his  followers  emigrated 
to  Holland,  he  formed  the  Second  English  church  at 
Amsterdam,  and  supported  himself  by  practising 
medicine.  Here  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
theology  of  Arminius,  and  here,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose,  he  learned  the  Mennonite  theory  of  the 
nature  of  the  church.  If  he  had  had  doubts  before 
concerning  infant  baptism  they  were  now  confirmed 
into  conviction  that  it  is  not  warranted  by  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  that  a  scriptural  church  should  consist  of 
the  regenerate  only,  who  have  been  baptized  on  a 
personal  confession  of  faith.  He  gave  utterance  to 
these  views  in  a  tract,  for  which  he  was  disfellow- 
shiped  by  his  former  friends.  Smyth,  Thomas  Hel- 
wys,  and  thirty-six  others  then  formed  in  1608  the 
first  Baptist  church,  composed  of  Englishmen,  that 
is  known  to  have  existed.  Smyth  is  generally  called 
the  "  Se-Baptist,"  which  means  that  he  baptized 
himself.  This  is  probably  true,  and  in  this  respect 
he  resembled  Roger  Williams.  He  held  that  the 
true  apostolic  succession  is  a  succession  not  of  out- 
ward ordinances  and  visible  organizations,  but  of 
true  faith  and  practice.  He  therefore  believed  that 
the   apostolic   succession   had   been   lost,    and   that 


The  Radical  Reformation  137 

the  only  way  to  recover  it  was  to  begin  a  church 
anew  on  the  apostoHc  model.  Accordingly,  having 
first  baptized  himself,  he  baptized  Helwys  and  the 
rest,  and  so  constituted  the  church.  They  soon  after 
issued  a  Confession  of  Faith,  Arminian  in  its  the- 
ology, but  distinct  in  its  claim  that  a  church  should 
be  composed  only  of  baptized  believers,  and  that 
only  such  should  ''  taste  of  the  Lord's  Supper." 
Persecution  seems  to  have  become  less  severe  in 
England  soon  after,  for  in  161 1,  Thomas  Helwys 
and  others  returned  to  London  and  founded  the  first 
Baptist  church,  composed  of  Englishmen,  known  to 
have  existed  on  English  soil.  This  church  was  also 
Arminian  in  theology,  and  churches  of  this  type 
came  to  be  called  General  Baptists,  because  they 
held  to  a  general  atonement  for  all  men,  while  or- 
thodox Calvinists  then  held  to  a  "  particular  "  atone- 
ment, for  the  elect  only.  By  the  year  1644,  there 
were  forty-seven  churches  of  this  faith  in  England, 
according  to  their  opponents — possibly  there  were 
more.  Once  they  had  a  fair  opportunity  to  preach 
New  Testament  truth  among  their  countrymen. 
Baptists  increased  rapidly  in  England. 

loi.  The  Particular  Baptists 

The  Calvinistic  Baptists  of  England  had  an  entire- 
ly distinct  origin.  We  have  seen  that  in  1616  there 
was  a  congregation  of  Separatists — or,  as  we  should 
now  say,  Congregationalists — organized  in  London. 
From   the   beginning  there    were   persons    in   this 


138  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

congregation  who  thought  that  they  had  stopped 
short  of  a  complete  return  to  New  Testament 
faith  and  practice,  and  opposed  the  administration 
of  baptism  to  infants.  After  a  time  these  became  so 
numerous  that  they  desired  to  form  a  separate  con- 
gregation, in  which  the  practice  might  be  conformed 
to  their  views,  and  were  peaceably  dismissed  for 
that  purpose ;  and  these  dismissed  members  formed 
the  first  Particular  Baptist  church  of  London,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1633.  In  1640  another  secession  oc- 
curred from  this  same  Separatist  church,  which  had 
been  meeting  in  two  parts.  Some  persons  became 
convinced  that  baptism  "  ought  to  be  by  dipping  the 
body  into  the  water,"  and  as  they  knew  no  Christians 
who  so  practised,  they  sent  one  of  their  number 
to  Holland,  where  he  was  immersed  by  a  Mennonite 
minister  of  the  church  that  practised  immersion, 
and  returning  baptized  the  rest.  Other  churches 
seem  to  have  followed  this  example,  so  far  at  least 
as  to  adopt  immersion,  and  in  1644  seven  churches 
in  London  issued  a  Confession  of  Faith,  in  which 
for  the  first  time  it  is  distinctly  avowed :  "  that  the 
way  and  manner  of  dispensing  this  ordinance  "  of 
baptism  "  is  dipping  or  plunging  the  body  under 
water ;  it  being  a  sign,  must  answer  the  thing  signi- 
fied, which  is,  that  interest  the  saints  have  in  the 
death,  burial,  and  resurrection  of  Christ."  In  a 
few  years  all  the  Baptist  churches  adopted  this  prac- 
tice, which  has  ever  since  been  associated  with  their 
name. 


The  Radical  Reformation  139 

102.  The  Friends 

George  Fox,  a  native  of  Leicestershire,  born  in 
1624,  became  a  ''  seeker  "  at  the  age  of  nineteen, 
and  for  years  could  find  no  peace  of  mind.  He 
beHeved  in  1647,  and  again  in  1649,  that  he  had 
distinct  revelations,  which  made  known  to  him  the 
fact  that  every  man  is  enlightened  by  the  divine 
light  of  Christ,  and  that  all  must  come  to  the 
Spirit  if  they  would  know  Christ  or  the  Scriptures 
aright.  He  began  to  proclaim  this  principle  of  the 
inner  light,  and  to  make  converts,  who  formed  the 
first  separate  societies  about  1653.  The  first  dis- 
cipline was  set  forth  by  the  London  meeting  in  1668, 
and  from  that  time  the  Friends — or  Quakers,  as  they 
were  derisively  called — increased  rapidly.  Fox  was 
not  altogether  clear  in  his  teachings,  and  it  is  not 
certain  whether  he  believed  in  the  orthodox  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity,  but  he  certainly  rejected  the 
distinctive  features  of  Calvinism.  Many  of  the  early 
Friends  were  drawn  from  the  General  Baptist 
churches,  and  many  of  the  usages  that  are  associ- 
ated with  Friends  are  survivals  of  sixteenth-century 
customs  among  Baptists ;  such  as  the  wearing  of  the 
plain  garb,  the  use  of  the  "  plain  "  language ;  "  first 
month "  and  "  first  day "  instead  of  the  common 
names  for  months  and  days;  and  the  like.  The 
Friends  mark  the  extreme  of  the  radical  reforma- 
tion. They  attempted  to  reduce  the  outward  forms 
of  religion  to  the  lowest  terms,  to  push  the  Puritan 
principle  to  the  last  practical  limit.    It  is  a  curious 


140  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

commentary  on  the  weakness  of  human  nature  that 
the  attempt  resulted  in  the  strictest  formahsm  to  be 
found  in  any  Christian  body.  By  1700  the  Friends 
were  estimated  to  number  one  hundred  thousand. 

Bibliography 

Burrage's  Anabaptists  of  Switzerland  (A.  B.  P. 
S.,  $1,  1882)  is  the  best  book  on  its  subject.  New- 
man's Antipedobaptism  contains  the  fullest  account 
of  German  Anabaptists  (ibid.,  $2).  Heath  Anabap- 
tism  (London,  1895)  would  be  much  more  trust- 
worthy if  the  author  had  not  been  so  carried  away 
by  his  socialistic  ideas.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Bax's  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Anabaptists  (Macmillan, 
$2).  Several  chapters  are  devoted  to  this  subject  in 
Vedder's  Short  History  of  the  Baptists,  and  his  biog- 
raphy of  Balthasar  Hiibmaier,  in  the  "  Heroes  of  the 
Reformation  "  series,  gives  more  extended  treatment 
of  the  matter.  On  the  rise  of  the  English  Baptists, 
consult  Newman  and  Vedder,  as  above,  and  the  fol- 
lowing: Dexter,  True  Story  of  John  Smyth  (Bos- 
ton, 1881)  ;  Shakespeare,  Baptist  and  Congregational 
Pioneers  (London,  1906),  and  Lofton,  English  Bap- 
tist Reformation  (Louisville,  1899)  ;  Campbell's 
Puritan  in  England,  Holland,  and  New  England 
(Harpers,  $5)  gives  much  that  is  valuable  about 
the  early  Separatists  and  Baptists,  but  attributes 
too  much  influence  to  the  Dutch  on  American 
religious  and  political  institutions.  Fox's  Journal, 
of  which  an  abridged  edition  is  now  published  by 


The  Radical  Reformation  14 1 

the  Friends'  Society,  Philadelphia,  is  the  chief  au- 
thority for  the  early  history  of  that  body. 

The  Quiz 

How  and  why  did  differences  among  the  re- 
formers arise  in  Zurich?  What  was  Zwingli's 
course?  What  does  Anabaptist  mean?  Did  the 
Anabaptists  originate  with  the  Reformation?  How 
were  they  related  to  the  Waldenses  and  Petrobru- 
sians  ?  What  did  the  Zurich  council  do  ?  Were  there 
Anabaptists  elsewhere?  Give  an  account  of  Bal- 
thasar  Hiibmaier.  Also  of  the  Anabaptists  of  Mo- 
ravia. Who  was  John  Denck?  What  was  his  rela- 
tion to  the  Anabaptists?  What  were  the  teachings 
of  Hofmann?  What  result  did  they  have?  Were 
the  Anabaptists  responsible  for  the  Miinster 
troubles?  When  did  persecution  of  Anabaptists 
begin  and  where?  Why  did  the  persecuted  always 
become  persecutors,  so  soon  as  they  had  the  power? 
Who  was  Menno  Simons?  Where  did  he  labor? 
Where  are  the  Mennonites  found?  Did  they  remain 
united?  How  did  the  Socinians  originate?  What 
were  their  doctrines?  Who  were  the  Separatists? 
Were  they  Baptists?  Who  was  John  Smyth?  How 
did  the  General  Baptists  originate?  Why  "Gen- 
eral "  ?  What  was  the  origin  of  the  Particular  Bap- 
tists ?  How  was  immersion  introduced  among  them  ? 
Who  was  George  Fox  ?  When  did  the  Friends  begin 
as  a  separate  body?  Whence  did  they  derive  many 
of  their  usages?     What  is  their  significance? 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    COUNTER-REFORMATION 

103.  Paul  III 

At  the  accession  of  Paul  III,  the  papacy  was  in 
desperate  straits.  The  folly  of  his  predecessors  (Leo 
X,  Adrian  VI,  and  Clement  VII)  had  precipi- 
tated the  Reformation  and  extended  its  progress. 
The  Teutonic  peoples,  embracing  Central  and  North- 
ern Europe  and  the  British  Isles,  were  already  lost 
to  the  Church ;  the  Huguenots  were  threatening  the 
Catholic  supremacy  in  France;  the  Reformation 
was  making  alarming  progress  in  Spain  and  Italy. 
The  Church  could  not  hope  to  withstand  the  progress 
of  the  Reformation  without  a  counter-reformation ; 
it  must  purify  itself  or  cease  to  exist.  Adrian  VI 
had  seen  this,  but  he  had  not  the  skill  or  strength 
to  effect  reforms ;  he  struggled  single-handed  dur- 
ing his  brief  pontificate  and  accomplished  little.  The 
election  of  Cardinal  Alexander  Farnese  promised 
little  in  the  way  of  reform.  He  had  twice  been  an 
unsuccessful  candidate,  and  was  rejected  principally 
because  of  his  known  vileness  of  character.  He  had 
four  illegitimate  children,  and  one  of  his  first  acts 
as  pope  was  to  give  the  cardinal's  hat  to  two  of  his 
grandchildren,  aged  respectively  fourteen  and  six- 
teen years.  This  act  of  nepotism  accomplished,  he 
142 


The  C ounter-Reformation  143 

devoted  the  rest  of  his  pontificate  (1534-1549)   to 
wise,  energetic,  and  reformatory  administration. 

104.  His  Reforms 

Paul  III  appointed  six  learned  and  devoted  ec- 
clesiastics to  the  college  of  cardinals,  permanently 
raising  the  tone  of  that  body.  Among  those  thus 
promoted  were  Gasparo  Contarini,  Reginald  Pole, 
Pietro  Caraffa,  and  Jacopo  Sadoleti.  A  second 
measure  of  reform  was  the  calling  of  a  general 
council,  for  which  there  had  long  been  a  demand 
from  all  parts  of  the  Church.  The  call  convening 
the  council  was  published  in  1536,  and  the  date  of 
meeting  was  fixed  for  May  i,  1538,  but  several  post- 
ponements followed  and  the  council  did  not  finally 
convene  until  1545.  The  pope  appointed  a  commis- 
sion to  prepare  a  plan  of  reformation  of  the  Church, 
of  which  Contarini  was  the  leading  spirit,  and  they 
reported  a  Consilium  de  emendanda  ecclesia,  with 
thirty  propositions  of  reform.  These  were  surrep- 
titiously printed,  and  Luther  reissued  them  in  1538 
with  characteristic  comments.  They  were  too  rad- 
ical and  stringent,  and  though  the  pope  manifested 
no  disfavor  the  Church  did  not  respond  to  the 
scheme,  and  it  fell  dead.  Several  other  movements 
for  the  bettering  of  the  Church  either  originated 
during  this  pontificate  or  received  a  great  impetus 
from  Paul  III.  The  revival  of  monachism  had 
already  begun  under  Clement  VII,  but  Paul  III 
encouraged  it  and  seems  to  have  given  it  a  new 


144  ^^^^  Period  of  the  Reformation 

impulse.  The  establishment  of  the  Society  of  Jesus 
was  directly  due  to  him,  the  order  founded  by  Ig- 
natius Loyola  being  confirmed  by  him  in  1540.  The 
most  potent  of  all  the  new  measures,  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  Inquisition  by  the  bull  Licet  ah  initio 
(July  21,  1542)  was  his  sole  act.  Henceforth  there 
was  a  general  Holy  Office  at  Rome,  with  branches 
in  all  the  Catholic  States  of  Europe,  directed  by  one 
mind  and  one  will,  for  the  complete  extirpation  of 
heresy.  The  results  of  this  new  policy  were  striking 
even  during  the  life  of  Paul  III.  At  his  death,  the 
future  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  was  dark;  it 
was  crushed  out  of  Italy  and  Spain,  and  strictly  lim- 
ited in  France.  The  papacy  had  won  back  a  large 
part  of  its  losses  and  was  to  win  back  still  more. 

105.  The  Oratory  of  Divine  Love 

The  center  of  the  Counter-Reformation  was  Italy, 
the  seat  of  the  papacy  and  the  country  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  cardinals.  Like  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation, the  Catholic  Counter-Reformation  was  first 
of  all  a  revival  of  religion  in  the  Church.  One  of  the 
earliest  manifestations  of  renewed  spiritual  life  was 
the  organization  formed  by  fifty  or  more  devout 
Catholics,  known  as  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love. 
This  was  not  an  order,  but  a  voluntary  association 
of  men  who  desired  the  promotion  of  personal  piety 
in  the  Church,  as  an  antidote  to  the  worldly  and 
practically  pagan  tone  hitherto  prevalent  in  the 
Roman  Court  and  among  Italian  ecclesiastics  gen- 


The  Counter-Reformation  145 

erally.  Some  of  its  members  partially  sympathized 
with  the  Reformation — Contarini,  for  example,  held 
to  justification  by  faith — but  it  was  a  reform  of 
character  and  life,  rather  than  of  doctrine,  that  they 
desired  to  see.  Two  groups  developed  after  a  time 
among  the  members  of  the  Oratory.  One  was  led 
by  Cardinal  Contarini,  who  favored  such  moderate 
reform  of  the  Church  as  would  meet  the  supposed 
demands  of  the  more  conservative  Protestants.  He 
was  sent  as  papal  legate  to  the  Diet  of  Regens- 
burg,  in  1541,  where  Eck  and  the  ablest  Catholic 
theologians  held  a  colloquy  with  Melanchthon  and 
Bucer,  to  arrange  terms  of  compromise.  This 
proved  impossible,  and  after  this  failure  the  more 
radical  wing  among  the  Catholics,  led  by  Cardinal 
Caraffa,  who  was  in  favor  of  a  strictly  Catholic  and 
anti-Protestant  reform,  gained  and  held  the  ascend- 
ency, Caraffa,  in  due  time,  became  Pope  Paul  IV 
(1555-1559)  and  directed  the  actual  course  of  the 
Counter-Reformation. 

106.  The  Revival  of  Monachism 

The  same  desire  for  an  increase  of  personal  piety 
that  produced  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love  led  also 
to  a  widespread  revival  of  monachism,  always  the 
highest  type  of  piety  in  the  Catholic  Church.  Mat- 
teo  di  Basio,  a  devout  Franciscan,  renewed  the  faith- 
ful observance  of  the  rules  of  St.  Francis,  restored 
the  original  hood  (capuche)  of  the  founder's  garb, 
and  gained  so  many  followers  that  in  1528  they  were 


146  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

confirmed  as  a  separate  congregation,  known  as  Ca- 
puchins. The  defection  to  Protestantism  of  their 
vicar-general,  Bernardino  Ochino  (1543),  was  a 
great  blow  to  the  new  order,  but  it  survived  and 
became  very  numerous  in  all  Catholic  countries. 
The  Benedictines,  Carmelites,  Cistercians,  and  other 
of  the  older  orders,  also  participated  in  this  revival, 
renewed  their  activities  and  everywhere  increased 
their  numbers. 

But  this  by  no  means  exhausted  the  new  monastic 
zeal.  A  large  number  of  new  orders  sprang  into 
existence,  partly  because  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of 
their  founders  could  not  be  restrained  within  the 
limits  of  existing  orders,  partly  because  quite  new 
channels  of  activity,  distinctly  practical,  were  sought 
by  the  pious  Catholics  of  this  age.  Cardinal  Caraffa 
was  largely  instrumental  in  establishing  the  order  of 
the  Theatines,  who  not  only  renounced  all  property, 
but  would  not  even  beg,  relying  for  their  support 
on  whatever  Providence  might  send  them.  They 
engaged  actively  in  the  work  of  missions,  but  still 
more  in  the  education  of  the  clergy.  Filippo  di  Neri 
(1515-1595),  a  devout  Italian  priest,  organized  a 
society  in  a  hall  or  oratory  in  Rome.  The  meetings 
were  held  for  prayers,  readings  from  the  Bible, 
and  sacred  music  (whence  the  name,  oratorio).  This 
had  so  great  success  that  in  1575  a  papal  bull  recog- 
nized it  as  the  Congregation  of  the  Oratory.  The 
members  are  not  monks,  do  not  take  vows,  and  are 
not  required  to  renounce  their  property.     All  are 


The  Counter-Reformation  147 

on  a  perfect  equality,  even  the  superior  must  take  his 
turn  of  service  of  others.  The  priests  of  the  Oratory- 
have  devoted  themselves  from  the  beginning,  with 
great  success,  to  biblical  studies.  The  Brothers  of 
Mercy  were  founded  in  Portugal  by  John  di  Dio, 
and  chose  as  their  peculiar  work  the  care  of  the 
poor  and  sick,  as  did  also  the  Ursalines,  an  order 
of  women  founded  by  Angela  Merici  in  Italy,  and 
recognized  in  1544.  The  latter,  however,  added  to 
their  work  as  nurses  the  education  of  young  girls, 
in  which  their  convents  obtained  and  long  held  the 
chief  place  in  all  Catholic  countries. 

107.  Recuperative  Power  of  Romanism 

The  original  monachism  was  a  revival  of  religion, 
such  as  it  was,  and  this  sixteenth-century  movement 
reproduced  many  of  the  characteristics  of  the  earlier 
centuries.  This  zeal  in  the  founding  of  new  orders 
must  be  looked  upon  as  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
devout  Catholics  to  lead  their  Church  to  a  higher 
plane  of  Christian  living,  and  to  more  efficient  forms 
of  Christian  service.  All  classes  and  conditions  of 
men  were  embraced  in  the  purposes  of  these  orders. 
The  movement  was  favored  by  the  popes,  and  espe- 
cially Paul  III,  because  it  seemed  to  be  the  most 
effective  means  of  counteracting  Protestantism 

Nothing  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation  move- 
ment illustrates  so  strikingly  the  recuperative  re- 
ligious forces  still  left  in  the  Catholic  Church,  in 
spite  of  its  corruptions  and  errors,  as  the  formation 


148  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

of  these  societies  for  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant, 
the  reHef  of  the  sick  and  the  poor,  and  the  general 
ameHoration  of  society.  Those  who  thought  the  old 
Church  was  dead,  or  even  moribund,  had  greatly 
mistaken  the  fact.  There  was  abundance  of  spiritual 
vitality  still  latent,  as  this  movement  unmistakably 
proves.  It  may  have  been  largely  misguided;  we 
may  disapprove  the  channels  in  which  it  chose  to 
manifest  itself;  but  this  should  not  blind  us  to  the 
existence  of  the  life,  or  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  the  Catholic  Church  was  still  a  great  spiritual 
force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  world. 

108.  The  Society  of  Jesus 

The  most  effective  agency  of  the  Counter-Refor- 
mation was  the  new  order  founded  by  Ignatius 
Loyola,  a  Spaniard,  who  gathered  a  small  company 
of  religious  enthusiasts  like  himself,  that  were  recog- 
nized as  an  order  in  1540.  Their  first  idea  was  to 
be  missionaries  to  the  Saracens,  but  that  proving  im- 
practicable, Francis  Xavier  was  sent  as  a  missionary 
to  the  Indies,  and  the  rest  of  the  number  gave  them- 
selves to  the  work  of  education.  Great  sums  of 
money  were  soon  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  Jesuits ; 
they  established  chairs  of  theology  at  the  univer- 
sities, and  founded  schools  and  colleges.  They  be- 
came the  confessors  of  the  titled  and  wealthy,  and 
thus  acquired  great  political  and  social  influence. 
The  order  differed  radically  from  the  older  orders 
in  that  its  ideal  was  not  at  all  monastic.     Its  mem- 


The  Counter-Reformation  149 

bers  took  the  three  monastic  vows  of  obedience, 
poverty,  and  chastity,  but  they  did  not  Hve  the  mo- 
nastic Hfe.  Their  ideal  was  not  separation  from  the 
world,  to  secure  personal  salvation,  but  living  in  the 
world  and  for  the  Church,  and  securing  salvation  by 
service.  In  this  they  were  more  distinctly  Christian 
than  the  older  monachism. 

109.  Their  Moral  Teachings 

The  Jesuit  theologians  developed  some  peculiar 
ethical  principles.  They  taught  a  doctrine  of  "  prob- 
ableism,"  according  to  which  it  is  enough  to  justify 
moral  action  that  a  given  course  is  probably  right; 
and  the  opinion  of  a  single  doctor  of  repute  is 
enough  to  establish  such  probability.  It  is  enough 
that  the  course  has  any  degree  of  probability  in  its 
favor,  and  it  is  allowable  to  choose  the  less  prob- 
able rather  than  the  more  probable  opinion.  As  the 
opinion  of  some  doctor  could  be  found  for  almost 
anything,  this  was  practically  to  say  that  it  is  ethic- 
ally right  to  do  as  one  pleases.  They  taught  also  the 
principle  of  *'  directing  the  intention,"  so  choosing  a 
worthy  end  that  whatever  one  does  becomes  sancti- 
fied by  the  ultimate  motive.  Or,  in  briefer  terms, 
the  end  justifies  the  means.  Mental  reservations  are 
lawful,  said  the  Jesuit  teachers,  by  which  words  may 
be  made  to  convey  to  the  hearer  an  impression  con- 
trary to  the  truth,  while  the  speaker  has  the  truth  in 
mind.  Such  ethical  principles  were  found  to  offer 
no  check  to  lying,  murder,  or  lust,  and  their  general 


150  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

acceptance  would  disintegrate  society.  But  the  hold- 
ing and  practice  of  such  principles  made  the  Jesuits 
exceedingly  effective  in  promoting  the  reaction 
toward  Romanism.  They  were  restrained  by  no 
ordinary  scruples  from  doing  and  saying  anything 
that  they  thought  would  promote  the  glory  and 
power  of  the  Church. 

no.  The  Council  of  Trent 

From  the  time  Luther  appealed  from  the  pope  to 
a  general  council  (15 18)  there  had  been  constant 
agitation  for  such  a  council  to  be  called,  and  Charles 
V  had  repeatedly  pledged  himself  that  a  council 
should  meet  in  Germany.  To  this  the  popes  were 
unalterably  opposed,  and  they  temporized  until  they 
succeeded  in  having  it  meet  in  Italy,  where  they 
could  control  it  more  effectively.  It  met  at  Trent, 
December  15,  1545,  and  was  finally  dissolved  De- 
cember 4,  1563,  but  was  in  actual  session  little  more 
than  five  years.  It  accomplished  much  for  the 
Catholic  Church,  in  making  a  clear  and  unmistakable 
definition  of  the  Catholic  faith,  in  rejecting  deci- 
sively the  characteristic  doctrines  of  Protestantism, 
and  so  leaving  the  two  systems  sharply  distin- 
guished. Hardly  less  important  were  the  practical 
reforms  undertaken,  such  as  the  better  education  of 
the  clergy,  the  abolition  of  pluralities,  prohibition  of 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  and  the  like.  The  authori- 
zation of  an  index  of  prohibited  books  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  pope,  which  led  to  the  appointment  of 


The  Counter-Reformation  151 

the  Congregation  of  the  Index,  was  also  an  impor- 
tant gain.  In  short,  by  the  action  of  the  council, 
the  Church  was  considerably  purified  from  its 
abuses,  and  greatly  united  and  strengthened,  so  as 
to  present  to  its  opponents  a  consistent  and  uniform 
policy,  supported  by  all  the  power  that  it  could 
muster  from  any  source. 

III.  Revival  of  the  Inquisition 

As  the  Inquisition  had  fallen  into  comparative 
disuse,  a  revival  of  its  efficiency  played  a  large  part 
in  the  reactionary  measures  of  the  Church,  and  was 
perhaps  the  most  practically  useful  feature  of  the 
Counter-Reformation.  Paul  III  established  the 
Congregation  of  the  Holy  Office  permanently  at 
Rome,  under  the  personal  direction  of  the  pope,  and 
thus  assured  a  more  consistent  policy  and  uniform 
operation  than  had  before  been  possible.  But  it  was 
the  pontificate  of  Paul  IV  that  brought  this  agency 
to  its  perfection.  That  pope  succeeded  in  covering 
all  Italy  with  a  network  of  Inquisition  offices,  and  in 
this  work  he  fully  availed  himself  of  the  services  of 
the  Jesuits,  so  promoting  their  interests  in  turn  that 
he  was  called  their  second  founder.  His  last  words 
to  the  cardinals  assembled  about  his  deathbed  were 
in  commendation  of  the  Inquisition,  which  he  con- 
sidered the  chief  instrument  for  the  advancement  of 
the  Church.  It  was  in  Spain  that  the  Inquisition 
had  survived  in  its  highest  efficiency,  and  there  we 
naturally  find  the  earliest  symptoms  of  revival.    The 


152  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

motive  was  twofold:  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  as 
originally  established  under  Cardinal  Ximenes,  was 
quite  as  much  a  political  as  a  religious  system  of  re- 
pression, and  it  had  never  lost  this  semi-political 
character.  When  Charles  V  felt  it  needful  to  estab- 
lish his  political  supremacy  over  the  Netherlands 
more  completely,  he  introduced  there  a  branch  of 
the  Spanish  Inquisition,  in  1522.  January  16,  1556, 
he  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son  Philip  II,  who  con- 
tinued and  intensified  this  policy.  In  1559,  Philip 
reenacted  and  enforced  in  the  Netherlands  the  edict 
of  1550.  This  made  it  a  penal  offense  to  possess  any 
heretical  book ;  to  read,  expound,  teach,  or  even  con- 
verse about  the  Scriptures ;  to  hold  a  conventicle  in 
one's  house;  or  to  entertain  any  heretical  opinion. 
Those  guilty  were  to  be  punished  by  the  sword,  if 
men;  women  were  to  be  buried  alive — this  in  case 
they  did  not  persist;  the  penalty  for  persistence  was 
execution  by  fire.  Any  who  harbored  heretics  or 
neglected  to  denounce  them,  were  liable  to  the  same 
penalties. 

112.  Disunion  of  the  Protestants 

While  the  Catholic  party  were  thus  strengthening 
their  position  by  every  possible  expedient,  the  Prot- 
estants were  becoming  more  helplessly  divided  and 
weakened.  Though  the  Reformed  Churches  had  no 
legal  status,  they  were  becoming  very  numerous  and 
were  superseding  the  Lutheran  in  many  provinces 
and   cities.      The   hatred   and    distrust    shown   by 


The  Counter-Reformation  153 

Luther  at  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  had 
been  continued  by  his  followers  toward  the  Re- 
formed, and  no  co-operation  between  them  was 
possible.  The  Lutherans  themselves  had  been  hope- 
lessly split  up  by  controversies  for  which  Melanch- 
thon  was  largely  responsible,  and  these  controversies 
were  only  partially  ended  by  the  adoption  of  the 
Formula  of  Concord,  in  1580.  The  persecution  of 
all  who  did  not  accept  the  State  religion  still  further 
weakened  the  forces  of  Protestantism.  The  loss  of 
their  wisest  leaders,  by  natural  death  and  by  assas- 
sination, had  left  them  without  men  at  their  head  of 
such  force  of  character  as  to  compel  respect  and 
make  obedience  easy.  In  such  circumstances  it  was 
evident  that  the  Catholic  powers  would  seize  their 
opportunity,  and  attempt  to  undo  the  Reformation 
by  force  of  arms.  A  convenient  pretext  was  always 
at  hand  in  the  disputes  caused  by  the  "  ecclesiastical 
reservation"  of  1555.  The  provisions  of  the  peace 
had  not  been  observed  in  good  faith  on  either  side. 
Many  episcopates  had  been  secularized  by  the 
Protestants,  and  on  the  other  hand  many  cases  of 
persecution  of  their  Protestant  subjects  by  Catholic 
rulers  could  be  pointed  out. 

113.  The  Thirty  Years*  War 

The  actual  beginning  of  the  conflict  was  not  in 
Germany,  however.  Bohemia  refused  to  receive 
Ferdinand  of  Austria  as  its  king,  and,  exercising 
its  old  right  of  election,  chose  Elector  Frederick  of 


154  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

the  Palatine  as  king.  He  accepted,  and  Ferdinand 
declared  war  to  recover  his  "  rights."  Frederick 
was  easily  defeated,  and  followed  into  the  Palatinate 
and  defeated  there.  The  victorious  Ferdinand  then 
turned  his  arms  against  other  German  States,  and 
soon  the  Protestants  found  themselves  fighting  for 
their  lives  and  religion.  The  war  thus  lightly  be- 
gun dragged  along  for  thirty  years,  with  varying 
fortunes.  Neither  party  was  strong  enough  to  win 
a  decisive  victory  over  the  other,  and  both  became 
thoroughly  worn-out  by  the  struggle.  The  interven- 
tion of  Gustavus  Adolphus  and  a  series  of  brilliant 
victories  under  his  leadership  saved  the  Protestant 
cause  from  utter  defeat,  while  his  untimely  death  in 
turn  saved  the  Catholic  cause,  and  made  a  divided 
Germany  permanent.  The  peace  of  Westphalia, 
concluded  in  1648,  was  a  compromise  on  the  same 
general  lines  as  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  and  proved 
permanent.  It  took  the  year  1624  as  a  "  normal 
year,"  and  provided  that  the  religious  and  political 
status  of  that  year  should  be  restored  and  main- 
tained. The  religion  of  the  Protestant  States  was 
guaranteed,  and  the  Reformed  were  given  equal 
rights  with  the  Lutherans.  Many  generations  were 
required  to  repair  the  losses  caused  by  this  long 
struggle,  the  most  terrible  scourge  that  Germany 
ever  experienced.  Towns  and  villages  without  num- 
ber had  disappeared,  and  much  of  the  land  had  re- 
lapsed into  a  wilderness.  The  population  is  said  to 
have   decreased    one-half,    and   two-thirds    of    the 


The  Counter-Reformation  155 

movable  property  had  been  destroyed.  The  people 
had  become  demoralized  during  the  vicissitudes  of 
v^ar,  and  a  period  of  the  greatest  religious  depres- 
sion and  moral  license  ensued.  It  was  a  terrible 
price  to  pay  for  a  partial  religious  freedom,  and  an 
awful  penalty  for  the  cherishing  of  religious  bigotry. 

114.  General  Character  of  the  Reformation 

A  general  survey  of  the  results  of  the  great  for- 
ward movement  of  European  society,  commonly 
known  as  the  Reformation,  will  not  confirm  some 
of  the  long-cherished  popular  impressions  concern- 
ing it.  The  traditional  Protestant  view  of  the 
Reformation  does  not  accord  with  the  facts  that  our 
study  has  solidly  established.  It  was  ostensibly  a 
religio-ecclesiastical  revolution;  it  was  quite  as 
much  a  social  and  political  upheaval.  It  succeeded 
permanently  only  among  the  Teutonic  peoples,  who 
were  just  then  undergoing  the  most  rapid  social  and 
political  changes  in  their  history.  Wherever  the 
Reformation  became  established,  it  was  triumphant 
not  because  the  teachings  of  the  reformers  were 
true,  and  so  were  accepted  gladly  by  the  people ;  but 
because  those  in  authority,  for  reasons  of  their  own 
— generally  selfish  and  sordid  reasons — saw  fit  to 
enforce  the  reformed  religion  on  an  indififerent  or 
reluctant  people.  Protestantism  might  have  pre- 
vailed, in  a  fair  field,  by  the  inherent  power  of  the 
truth.  In  fact,  it  prevailed  nowhere,  except  the  aid 
of  the  State  was  invoked  and  secured.     Political 


156  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

expediency,  more  than  religious  truth,  explains  the 
progress  of  the  reformed  doctrines  and  practice  in 
this  State,  and  their  extinction  in  that.  It  is  note- 
worthy, also,  that  wherever  the  Reformation  thus 
triumphed  through  State  aid,  it  was  accompanied  by 
an  intolerance  hardly  less  oppressive  than  that  of  the 
Roman  Church. 

The  reverse  of  the  foregoing  statements  is  also 
partly  true.  In  some  States  the  Protestant  doctrine 
and  practice  might  never  have  gained  the  voices  of 
the  majority,  but  would  have  won  a  permanent  foot- 
ing, if  the  State  had  been  neutral.  This  was  par- 
ticularly true  in  France,  but  the  Reformation  there 
partook  so  much  of  the  character  of  a  revolt  of 
the  nobles  against  the  crown  that  the  State  could 
not  be  expected  to  remain  neutral.  The  success  of 
a  similar  revolt  in  Scotland,  in  which  also  religious 
reformation  was  a  convenient  pretext,  shows  what 
the  result  would  doubtless  have  been  in  France,  if  the 
crown  had  not  firmly  opposed  the  Huguenot  party, 
and  been  strong  enough  to  hold  it  in  check,  and 
finally  to  extirpate  it  altogether.  The  Reformation 
never  showed  much  vitality  in  Spain  or  Italy,  and 
the  sternness  of  the  repressive  measures  adopted  in 
both  countries  was  speedily  successful.  There  was 
so  little  difficulty  in  checking  attempts  at  reform 
among  the  Latin  nations,  as  to  raise  the  question 
whether  Protestantism  is  a  form  of  religion  adapted 
to  those  peoples.  The  Roman  Church  won  back  the 
Slavs  also.     One   Keltic  nation  was  permanently 


The  Counter-Reformation  157 

lost,    but    the    other    remained    its    most    devoted 
adherent. 

115.  Some  Permanent  Results 

If  the  Reformation  was  not  the  noble  and  heroic 
and  highly  religious  struggle  that  some  historians 
have  depicted,  nevertheless,  many  great  and  lasting 
benefits  resulted.  The  redistribution  of  the  wealth 
so  long  concentrated  in  the  ownership  of  the  Church 
and  its  orders  was  an  economic  gain  by  no  means 
inconsiderable.  From  every  country  but  Spain  the 
Inquisition  disappeared,  with  a  great  increase  of 
liberty  and  happiness  throughout  Europe.  The 
battle  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  had  been  won, 
though  it  required  a  century  more  to  gather  the 
fruits  of  the  victory.  The  human  mind  had  been 
freed  once  for  all  from  the  shackles  of  medieval 
dogma  and  authority.  If  the  Renaissance  was  "  the 
discovery  of  the  world  and  of  man,"  as  has  been 
said,  then  the  Reformation  was  the  discovery  of  God 
and  the  Bible.  A  great  impetus  was  given  to  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  right  of  private 
interpretation  had  been  successfully  and  finally  as- 
serted. It  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  still 
greater  progress  should  be  made  in  freedom  of 
thinking  and  teaching.  A  more  spiritual  ideal  of 
religion  had  been  inculcated,  and  with  each  succes- 
sive generation  found  a  wider  acceptance. 

Nearly  the  most  important  result  of  the  Refor- 
mation was  the  Counter-Reformation  forced  on  the 


158  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

Roman  Church.  Reform  within  the  Church,  without 
a  schism  in  the  body  of  Christ,  had  been  the  dream 
of  Savonarola,  and  WicHf,  and  Hus,  and  many 
another  predecessor  of  Luther,  but  it  had  proved  to 
be  only  a  dream.  The  experience  of  centuries  had 
demonstrated  the  futility  of  all  such  efforts  at  re- 
form. The  Lutheran  schism,  the  almost  simul- 
taneous Zwingli-Calvinistic  revolt,  the  secession 
of  the  English  and  Scotch  nations  from  the  papal 
authority,  with  the  threatened  loss  of  all  Central 
Europe,  compelled  Rome  to  do  what  she  would 
never  have  voluntarily  undertaken.  What  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent  actually  effected,  and  what  it  set  in 
motion,  produced  a  rapid  and  radical  change  in  the 
administration  of  the  Church.  The  evils  that  caused 
the  assemblage  of  the  great  reforming  councils  no 
longer  exist ;  and  it  now  requires  a  vigorous  use  of 
the  historic  imagination  to  comprehend  what  the 
uproar  about  reform,  that  fills  the  books  of  the  two 
centuries  before  Luther,  was  all  about.  If  the 
Reformation  had  accomplished  only  this  purification 
of  Rome  and  Romanism,  it  would  be  entitled  to 
grateful  remembrance  as  the  most  effective  of  good 
among  the  great  movements  of  human  history. 

Bibliography 

Two  volumes  of  Symonds's  great  work  on  the 
Renaissance  are  devoted  to  this  subject,  and  there 
is  an  excellent  little  volume  by  Ward  in  the  "  Epochs 
of  Church  History "  series.     These  are  the  only 


The  Counter-Reformation  159 

books  in  English  that  attempt  to  cover  the  entire 
subject.  On  Loyola  and  the  Jesuits,  consult: 
Manresa,  or  Spiritual  Exercises  in  many  editions; 
Hughes,  Loyola  and  the  Educational  System  of  the 
Jesuits  (New  York,  1892)  ;  Griesinger,  History  of 
the  Jesuits  (New  York,  1883)  ;  McClain,  Life  of 
Xavier  (2  vols.,  London,  1895).  Froude's  Lectures 
on  the  Council  of  Trent  pretty  nearly  covers  the 
whole  ground,  and  is  a  most  interesting  book,  and 
more  trustworthy  than  much  of  his  writing  (Scrib- 
ners,  $1.50).  On  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  the  his- 
tory of  Gindeley  leaves  little  to  be  desired  (2  vols., 
Putnams,  $3.50),  and  it  should  be  supplemented 
with  the  volume  on  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the 
"  Heroes  of  the  Nations  "  series.  Prescott's  Philip 
II  is  the  best  pertinent  biography  (Lippincott, 
$2).  Weyman's  My  Lady  Rotha  is  an  excellent 
work  of  fiction  illustrating  this  period,  and  Goethe's 
Hermann  und  Dorothea  enables  one  to  understand 
the  feeling  of  the  time. 

The  Quiz 

Who  was  Paul  IH?  What  was  the  situation  of 
the  Roman  Church  at  his  election?  What  reforms 
did  he  undertake?  What  were  the  results  of  his 
policy?  What  was  the  Oratory  of  Divine  Love? 
What  two  groups  or  parties  developed  in  the  Roman 
Church?  Which  came  to  control  the  Church  and 
its  policy?  How  did  the  Capuchins  originate? 
What  new  orders   were   founded?     How   did  the 


i6o  The  Period  of  the  Reformation 

oratorio  (sacred  music)  get  its  name?  What  is 
the  significance  of  this  revival?  Is  the  spiritual 
power  of  the  Roman  Church  underestimated  ?  What 
vi^as  the  Society  of  Jesus?  What  were  its  distinct- 
ive principles  ?  What  is  "  probableism  "  ?  What  is 
the  Jesuit  doctrine  of  "  directing  the  intention  "  ? 
What  is  their  teaching  about  ''  mental  reserva- 
tions "  ?  What  is  the  ethical  effect  of  such  teach- 
ings ?  Where  is  Trent  ?  How  long  was  the  council 
in  session  ?  What  was  its  great  achievement  ?  What 
practical  reforms  did  it  provide  for?  Who  revived 
the  Inquisition?  Who  most  effectively  directed  it. 
Where  was  it  most  efficient?  What  was  the  edict 
published  against  heresy  in  the  Netherlands  ?  What 
was  the  root  of  Protestant  disunion  ?  What  was  the 
effect  of  the  "Ecclesiastical  reservation"?  How 
did  the  Thirty  Years'  War  begin?  Who  saved 
Protestants  from  total  defeat?  What  did  the  peace 
of  Westphalia  provide?  What  were  the  social  re- 
sults of  the  war  ?  Describe  the  general  character  of 
the  Reformation.  What  were  some  of  its  perma- 
nent results? 


Date  Due 


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The  period  of  the  Reformation 

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1    1012  00079  1832 


